The End of Solitude and Silent Shouts
by Alicevera
Summary: It has been two years since her dad died and since then, she has been alone. After almost being executed she comes to Whiterun. There, she finds a place to belong, and Vilkas. Spoiler warning! F.DragonbornXVilkas. UNDERGOING RE-WRITE AS OF July 2013
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Elder Scrolls or any of the characters from the game._

_Prior to reading this story, please note; Even thought this story doesn't follow the exact storyline of the game there there are things that could be considered as spoilers. This story is only following my OC and her interactions with The Companions in general and Vilkas especially. ENJOY!_

_**ALSO: I am currently going through this story to re-write and general fixes, hopefully it'll lead to me being able to finnish. I'm so sorry to have kept you all waiting.**_

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><p><strong>1. Uncommon One<strong>

'Oh, that's just great,' Keilah thought to herself when the rain started to pour down. Luckly, she was seeing the town she was heading for. Even so, her hood and leather armor were soon enough soaking wet and she picked up the pace in hope to of getting to the town before nightfall despite the rain and the wind.

She made it to the city gates just as the shops were starting to close. To her immediate right she noticed a blacksmith and hoped she would at least have some luck that day and that there still was time for some trading.

"Hi, are you still open?" She asked the woman standing outside.

"Looking to buy, traveler?" The woman answered. She was tall, blond and beautiful as every other Nord woman Keilah had ever met. She always felt ridiculously small and plain when talking to them.

"Yes, but sell mostly. I have some leather and pelts. I also do wish to buy some small things, like lockpicks if you have them."

"Lockpicks?" She eyed Keilah suspiciously. "You know, I'm not to keen on selling lockpicks to strangers. I'd hate to sell them to you and find out tomorrow that my neighbors have had uninvited visitors during the night."

It was better not to argue about it. She had enough lockpicks and if she proved herself she knew she would be allowed to buy them later on. "Fair enough, I would still like to sell to you if that's ok?"

The big Nord woman looked at her with a smile, "What's your name?"

With a smile in return, she answered. "Keilah, I just came here from Riverwood."

"Nice to meet you Keilah, I'm Adrienne Avenicci and this is the Warmaiden's."

"Is it named after you?"

"Yes. It was my fathers nickname for me. If I'm not around you can always deal with my husband Ulfbert, he's usually inside the shop though."

The deals were quickly settled. With a few more golds in her purse, some information and gossip about Whiterun, she headed to the inn that - according to Adrienne - was quite alright. Keilah was still soaking wet, and she still had a hard time understanding what had happened just in the last few days.

She had almost been executed, saved by a dragon and then almost killed by the very same dragon. The nice man that helped her, despite the fact that she obviously wasn't a Nord, he hadn't even flinched when she used magic. He only commented on the fact that it wasn't common that someone who was using magic and a sword at the same time. And finally, the kindness of the people in Riverwood.

Keilah had spent most of her life traveling, her dad was always on his way to one battle or another. They had been trading their way forward, and he had taught her everything she knew about fighting and generally getting by.

If she just closed her eyes she could hear his voice as clearly as if he was standing next to her; 'Magic is useful Keilah, but a sword is just as useful. Use magic on them as they come towards you and finish them off with your sword and remember; your most powerful weapon is always your head. People our size needs to be smarter and quicker than our enemy because we will never be stronger.'

She missed him everyday. He had been dead for two years, since she was nineteen, and she woke up every morning thinking about him and fell asleep missing him. She hardly knew anyone, she had no close friends and made a living by selling and trading the way she and her dad always had. She had no memories of her mother who had died giving birth to her. Her dad had been her entire world.

When she was arrested she had lost everything she had on her, but the only thing she missed was the horse. By her calculations it would probably take her a couple of months to afford a new one. Nothing else bothered her, she always traveled light and held no sentiment towards possessions. But the loss of the horse meant she couldn't carry as much with her. Less to carry meant less to sell. Less to sell meant less money.

As she walked up the street she looked at the women. She would never get used to them. They were tall, fair haired, with blue eyes and curves she envied so hard she almost felt like punching them in their beautiful faces.

She herself was mistaken for a young boy on a quite regular basis. She barely reached up to the shoulders of most of these women, her breasts were close to non existing, her hips straight and she was skinny. She was strong, but still skinny. Her hair and eyes were dark brown, almost black.

As a child she used to look into the mirror trying to will her eyes to at least become green, but they were never anything but brown. She actually started off trying to make them blue, but thought that green would be more likely a successful attempt. It wasn't, of course.

Her father had told her that she should be proud of being a Breton, she still wasn't. She wasn't ashamed of it either, what she was held no bigger meaning to her.

She entered the inn and looked around. 'The Bannered Mare, what was it with Skyrim and the odd names for shops and inn's?' She walked up to the counter and asked for a room, a meal and mead.

"Is it possible to use the fire to cook some food here?" She asked the inn-keeper.

"Sure, just talk to the cook. If you're charming enough you might even be able to get a good price for the ingredients."

Keilah just smiled, she could be charming enough when she wanted to.

A very drunk man came up to her. Reeking like a brewery, he leaned close to her.

"Now here's pretty girl! You don't see many Bretons here in Whiterun. We have a a man, Belethor, he owns the general store. Calls it 'Belethors general store', boring name if you ask me. Good stock, though." He leaned over even closer, whispering and spitting into her ear. "The elf blood makes you people so small, but gracious. I bet you are really flexible."

Keilah hardly gave him a glance, took a sip of her mead and the looked at him.

"You'll never know." She heard a muffled laugh coming from somewhere behind her.

That didn't seem to put him off though. He smiled. Or rather tried. He was so drunk it looked a bit skewed and he held himself up against the bar counter.

"I heard you paying for room, you can stay in my house for free, what smart little girl wouldn't want that?'"

That was pretty much alls he needed. She knew the kind of man this was, there was one on every inn. The very drunk man that had tried to pick up every local girl without any luck and now just tried his luck with every strange female that walked through the door, hoping to catch them before they found out who he was. Or rather hoping they were desperate enough to accept his offer of a free bed.

"Look ,sir. I know for a fact that nothing is free, and every __smart__girl knows that. Now. Get. Out. Of. My. Face"

She was tired and in no mood to dodge his breath and feeble attempts for hours, so better to piss him off. If he was smart he'd notice the sword on her back. Just as the thought went through her head she could see him clenching his fist. Not smart then.

"Now, you listen to me little girl, no woman talks to me like that."

"Really? I would have thought it wasn't all that uncommon." And just as she anticipated, he took a swing at her.

Keilah had noticed that if you took out the big drunk that hardly anyone liked the first night in a new town, the other big drunk, or any men, tended to leave you alone for the rest of the stay. That suited her just fine.

She avoided his swing easily, sidestepped and hit him in the face with an open hand, she heard another muffled laugh behind her.

"See how easily I did that? It will not get any harder for me to hit you as this fight progresses, I will only _hit_ harder. Are you sure you want to keep this up?"

As she anticipated, that sent him over the edge and with a roar he started to swing his fists and rushed towards her. She avoided his hits and sidestepped his charges, and shortly he was flat on his back on the floor panting.

Keilah leaned over him, smiled and said: "Are we done? Can I get back to my mead or do you want another dance?"

He muttered something as he got up and moved toward the table in the corner, rubbing his jaw.

"I take it you don't want another dance then." she said, mostly to herself.

A woman with a tattoo over her face leaned forward with a laugh Keilah recognized as the muffled laugh she'd heard while talking and fighting with the drunk.

"Impressive. That's the most fun I've had at this establishment in months. I'm Aela. Why don't you sit and share a tankard of mead with me and my friend here."

Next to here was a huge man, one of the biggest Keilah has seen here in the north and that was saying something. She looked at them, smiled and agreed. It wasn't something she did often, but a woman with a tattoo on her face and an absolutely massive man wasn't what she usually found at the inns either. She was pretty sure it could be interesting.

Aela pointed at the big man and said, "This is Farkas". Keilah nodded at him with a smile.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Keilah."

"Did you just come into town?" Aela asked.

"Yes, I have a request to the Jarl from Riverwood. I thought I would get up there tomorrow. I came into town a bit later than I had expected, the rain took me by surprise."

"I have to say; your fighting is very impressive," Aela smiled, "But I only see a one-hand sword on your back, you don't use a shield or a second sword?"

"No." Suddenly Keilah became insecure. Magic wasn't something Nords liked or understood, they viewed it with suspicion, but then, what the heck, "I use magic with my other hand when I fight". Both Aela and Farkas raised their eyebrows.

"Really?" Farkas extremely dark voice took Keilah by surprise. She had suspected it was down there, but boy, that voice made her entire body vibrate when it hit her.

''I've never seen that, mixing weapons and magic." He wrinkled his eyebrows once more like he was thinking really hard, "I can see how that could be useful though."

"What kind of magic can you use?" Once again, very surprised, Keilah realized that Aela looked interested as well.

"Destruction and healing mostly."

"Fascinating! If you use your sword and your magic with the same skill you use your bare hands, it would certainly be something to see. You know, we're Companions, and Companions are always looking for good people. We've never had someone that uses magic before, but there's a first time for everything." Aela smiled when she said it, but not a mocking smile. "Listen, I realize that you're new in town, and maybe even new to Skyrim, ask people about us, see what they say and see if it's something that would interest you. You get a free bed."

Keilah nodded. "I'm actually thinking about heading up north to the college in Winterhold, I once promised my dad that I would try to get in."

"You could do that even if you're a Companion. I wouldn't mean that you're forced to stay with us, there's a lot of us around Skyrim on different assignments or just walking around trying to stumble upon them. The only ones that really stick around on a more permanent basis are the inner Circle. There's no pressure though. If you don't think it would suit you that's okay, stop by at Jorrvaskr to say 'hi' before you leave anyway."

Aela smiled while getting out of the chair and put her hand forward. Keilah stood up as well, took the hand and nodded once again.

"It was really nice to meet you, Keilah. You're an uncommon one and those are always nice to meet."

Farkas also smiled as he took her hand. "One-hand and magic, I would really like to see that. Be sure to come by and visit us. If we have an assignment it would be worth taking you with us just to see it. Especially if you use ice, I always wanted to shatter an iced bandit. That would be fun!"


	2. Chapter 2

2

She hadn't stayed in Whiterun long enough to take up Aela and Farkas offer to come by Jorrvaskr for a tankard of mead. But she did ask around about the Companions. They had a good reputation, the kind of reputation that Keilah liked, they chased general bad folks, bandits especially and any traveler liked anyone who chased bandits since every traveler had been robbed at least once. Keilah was no exception, she just tended to get out of the situation on the winning side.

Not all agreed with their policy regarding the Stormcloaks, this didn't concern Keilah since she really didn't care. She had met Ulfric as they were about to be executed at the same time, but they were hardly introduced. She also had the impression that they would hardly welcome her into their ranks since she wasn't a Nord.

After talking to the Jarl she had met his wizard Farengar, she liked him and he was ecstatic to learn that she had actually seen a real dragon. She was glad that someone was - she herself wasn't. When she asked him about herbs and potions, he told her were in town she could buy and sell them.

He also told her that she could use his alchemy lab whenever she wanted to. When she saw his Arcane table she was thrilled, she had not had access to one in years.

Farengar also told her that she really should apply the college in Whiterun and she was now more eager than ever to do so. Her father had never been able to go and had made her promise that she would. At the same time the Companions seemed more and more tempting,

In the short time she actually had spent in Whiterun she had met a lot of kind and generous people - the cook at the Bannerd Mare had given her a really nice price for the ingredients when she offered to trade him some of the herbs that could be used for seasonings. They had even exchanged some recipes since Keilah knew very little of the local cooking but knew a lot of other kindes of food from around the Empire.

Adrienne at the blacksmith's also warmed to Keilah and told her she could use her equipment. She even sold her lockpicks.

She left the town on a quest for Farengar - he needed a dragon-stone and she needed gold. Usually the best way to find gold was to loot bodies and sell whatever was found. It was a messy quest, but she did manage and was now on her way back to Whiterun.

That's when she realized, she was really looking forward to it, she wanted to know if Adrienne had managed to do the new kind of armor that she had been working on, and how things were going at the Bannered Mare.

She passed Riverwood on her way and was happy to see more guards just as the Jarl had promised. The people there thanked her and she settled some deals with them as well. She was hoping to run into some animals on her way to Whiterun and like her father always said; Gold is easier to carry than whatever equipment you sell to get the gold.

She considered herself lucky having hunted two wolves and a deer, and when she was coming down the hill towards Whiterun she passed a farm. To her surprise she saw Aela, Farkas and a third person in the middle of the farm and in front of a giant.

She immediately started running and quickly evaluated the situation. Aela was standing out of the way, firing her bow with an impressive speed and accuracy. Farkas was closer, wielding a two-hand sword and the third person, a female, with a sword and a shield was just behind Farkas.

While she was running she saw Farkas receive a mighty blow and Keilah charged her right hand with a healing spell and her left with flames. She pointed her right hand at Farkas and saw his surprised look when he stood up and held up his sword again. She then took up her sword but by the time she got to the giant it was already pretty much dead.

"Damn!" Farkas yelled when he saw her, "If you had been just a little earlier you might have been able to ice him and I could have smashed him to pieces."

Keilah just looked at him and then burst with loud laughter. It was impossible not to like Farkas, he was probably far from the smartest person she had met, but he was very likable.

"Hey, was that you healing me?"

"Yes, you looked a little shaken, it was quite the blow you received."

Aela walked up to them, "We were lucky you came when you did, I don't think me and this whelp could have taken out the giant without Farkas."

"Whelp?" Keilah wasn't sure what she meant.

The third person rolled her eyes, "That would be me, Ria, I'm the newest member of the Companions, they call all of us whelps until we have proven ourselves worthy. Quite annoying."

"So, you left without coming by," Aela said.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that, I had some urgent business to take care of. I had every intention to come back to Whiterun though and I have asked around about you. You have a good reputation."

"Sure do," Farkas smiled at her whilst looking up from inspecting his armor, it had a huge buckle on the chest.

"Talk to Kodlak if you're interested in joining, he's our harbinger."

"Harbinger?"

"Like leader, but not really leader, more the man you go to for advice. He's good at judging people, he'll give you chance if he thinks you're worth it."

The four of them started to walk towards Whiterun. Ria seemed like a nice girl or she was looking forward to the chance of not being the newest recruit. Farkas and Aela were nice just like the last time she had met them. Farkas kept touching his chest but when Keilah asked if he wanted her to heal him again he declined.

"Just the armour, it's pressing against the chest. Eorlund will fix it."

"Oh, I've heard about him. Adrienne talks about him a lot, the people in Riverwood praise him as well. Seems like everyone I mention smithing to says his name."

"They should", Aela looked proud, "He's brilliant, he tries to say that it's mostly due to the Skyforge, but that's nonsense if you ask me. He's good at what he does."

The Companions started talking about different smithing techniques and Keilah let her mind wander. Maybe it would me nice to actually belong, to have people to come back to, not just pass by on her way to nowhere.

She had been all alone for two years, as long as she had her dad, her home was always with him. But he wasn't there anymore. She was 21 years old and she had nowhere she belonged, it was starting to take a toll on her.

She had realized it when she was about to be executed, no one would miss her! No one would even notice that she was no longer a part of the world. It made her more upset than the fact that she was about to die.

When they walked through the gate to Whiterun she promised Aela that she would come by Jorrvaskr in the evening and talk to Kodlak.

"So you're thinking about trying to join the Companions?" Farkas smiled at her.

"I am," Keilah smiled back at him, "I like what you do."

"Great!" Aela really did sound happy about it, "I have a good feeling about you."

"I just need to take care of some things, sell some of my loot and meet with Farengar and give him the thing I found for him. I need to use his Alchemy table as well. I'm all out of potions."

"Can you make potions?" Ria looked at her with respect.

"Yes, me and my dad sort of had to, we walked a lot so we picked herbs were ever we found them and borrowed Alchemy tables whenever we could. The herbs can help just as they are, but potions are always the best."

Aela just stared at her, "So you can use magic, one-hand weapons, Alchemy, and a not so far stretched would be that you can do enchantments, what other skills do you have?"

Keilah blushed, "Well, lock picking?"

Aela laughed out loud at Keilahs red cheeks and her way of answering it like a question, "Like I said, you're an uncommon one. I have a very good feeling about you."

They came to Whiterun at midday. They parted ways after she had once again promised to come to Jorrvaskr in the evening.

She sold some things to Ardienne. Since she had found a pretty good bow she found her way to the Drunken Huntsman ('another lovely name for a shop', she thought to herself), the owner liked the bow so she traded it for a pair of new boots. Hers were still ok, but they wouldn't stay like that forever and the shoes he sold seemed to be good quality.

After she had been to Farengar to give him his dragon-stone and discuss some recipes, she borrowed his Alchemy table to make potions. She loved making potions and once again promised herself that she would one day own her very own alchemy table, have her own room where she could store her ingredients and spend hours in there.

By the time she was done, the sun was staring to set and she ran down to the square and inside Arcadia's Cauldron to sell of the potions she didn't need. That was actually one of the main reasons she and her dad used to collect ingredients - to collect them, make potions and sell them was their best source of income, it still was for Keilah.

She then walked up to Jorrvaskr. She admitted to herself that she was nervous. She didn't really know anyone but Farkas and Aela and even though they seemed like nice people she couldn't be sure what level of respect the other members had for them and if they listened to them.

Ria seemed to respect them, but she was new and probably tried to make everyone like her. She walked up the stairs and opened the door. A woman she didn't recognize was standing by the door. Keilah couldn't see either Farkas or Aela so she addressed her question to the woman by the door.

"Hi, I'm looking for Kodlak".

"Why would a midget like you want to talk to him?"

'Great', Keilah thought to herself, but instead of being intimidated she got angry. You couldn't meet the amount of people that she had, or being forced to learn to recognize different types of personalities in a split second to know who to talk to in different cities, without learning exactly what kind of person this was. She was a bootlicker. The worst kind of person, according to Keilah.

This woman saw everyone beneath her as threats and did her very best to keep them underneath herself, by intimidating and humiliating them. Keilah usually just ignored them, but then she had never been on her way to join their company or even needed to care about what they thought about her a week later.

She hesitated for a split second and then decided, that despite the fact that she for the first time was trying to achieve something else than a good rate for her sales, she was not going to take any shit. If that was something the Companions would ask of her she was simply not interested in joining, she could kill bandits by herself if that was her only goal. She looked at the woman in question with her most degrading look.

"I like to bash in bandits heads, I've heard you get to do that a lot around here," The woman's face revealed that she understood exactly what Keilah was really saying and Keilah finished her comment off with a cruel smile.

"There you are!" Keilah turned toward a set of stairs leading to the floor below, Aela was coming up the stairs smiling at her.

The loathing look she got from the other women made her realize that Aela obviously was above her in the hierarchy. 'Well, that's nice', she thought to herself, she was happy that the nasty bitch at least wasn't on top of the chain of command.

"Kodlak is downstairs, just go down, turn right and just walk straight ahead until you reach the end of the hallway. He's the older man in the room."

Keilah didn't ask who the other man was and just thanked Aela for her help. Just as she was about to leave Aela took her arm.

"Just be honest with him, be yourself, and don't mind Njada, she's bitch to all women."

"Oh, Njada was the charmer by the door?" Aela just smiled and gave her quick nod, "Thanks for the advise, both of them"

Keilah walked down the stairs and came into a long corridor, there were bookshelves, cupboards, tables with food and doors everywhere. She was wondering how many people lived there. She heard laughter from the room just in front of the stairs, it sounded kind of like Ria, but she wasn't sure.

She walked along the corridor and an older woman greeted her. At the end of the corridor was a closed door.

She took deep breath and knocked on the door. She couldn't even remember the last time she was truly nervous about meeting someone. Not even when she had gone to see the Jarl, that had been straight business and she did it to help the people in Riverwood.

She liked Aela and Farkas, they had said that Kodlak was a good judge of character, what if he took one look at her and said she should keep on walking. At the same time, she was angry that she cared about what others would think of her.

"Enter!" she heard from inside and she opened the door.

Inside the room was even more bookshelves, she loved books and had seen more books on this floor alone than she had seen in months. There were things everywhere and in the right corner of the room was a table with two matching chairs, in one of the chairs was quite a big man, with warpaint around his eyes, short dark hair and piercing ice blue eyes, he reminded her of Farkas, but smaller and with a more intelligent look.

In the other chair was an older man in heavy armor, with gray hair and a gray beard. He had an almost shocked look on his face but genuinely kind eyes. The eyes reminded her of her dad.

"Yes?" He said after regaining his composure.

"I'm Keilah Windor."

"Ah, you're the woman of that Farkas and Aela spoke of, I understand that you are interested in joining the Companions?"

"Yes, I am."

"You can not be serious, she is tiny, like a teenage boy, how would she possible be an asset to us!" The younger man gave Keilah an evaluating look.

'Asshole', Keilah thought and glared back at him but didn't say anything. She hated when people judged her by her size. At the same time she knew that it was sometimes handy when people underestimated her.

"Ah, Vilkas, you should know that size doesn't matter, but why don't you take her outside and test her, see what she is capable of in a fight."

Vilkas snared, "From what I heard she uses magic, I don't want to be set on fire just so she can prove her capabilities."

That made Keilah furious, no one in their right mind with magic powers, would set someone on fire just to prove they could fight.

She looked him straight into his eyes, "Would you beat me to death just to prove how strong you are?"

"Don't be silly!"

"I would no sooner set you on fire to prove that I can be an asset."

Koldak giggled, if it was because of her comment or the fact that she talked back and tried to provoke a man twice her size, she didn't know.

"See Vilkas, no need to be afraid, you get to keep your pants and chest hair today as well, as long as you don't fall into any natural fires on you way outside." Keilah could see that Vilkas was furious.

"I'm not afraid of a girl."

Keilah gave him a mocking grin but was starting to regret her comment, it was probably unwise to give him any ideas. Still she followed behind him outside. 'This should be interesting', she started to count the number of potions she had and how many she might need if this got really nasty.


	3. Chapter 3

3

"Don't you dare use magic on me!"

"Not even healing magic in case I injure you?" She said it just to provoke him, and it worked.

He made a sudden stop and turned around. She almost walked right into him and noticed that she barely reached him to his armpits. He didn't say anything, but than again, his very angry look pretty much said everything she needed to know.

She gave him an innocent smile that didn't fool him for a second, they were both aware that it wasn't supposed to. She realized that this was a quite intelligent man, that actually made her more worried than his size.

She wasn't sure exactly how the test was supposed to be done, but this man could probably really hurt her if he made an effort, especially since she couldn't use destruction magic. She could heal herself like crazy but that didn't really help her if he was bashing on her with her two-hand sword at the same time. But then, if it came to that it could probably not be called a test any longer, and she bloody well would set him on fire.

She was glad that she hadn't sold the extra sword that she had found. She could at least have one sword in each hand while she was fighting. A shield wouldn't help her much, he would probably send her flying to the high heavens if managed to hit her it with a straight blow. She wasn't very skilled at blocking either.

The fact that he probably was pretty smart took away one of the advantages she usually had and she had already lost the advantage of magic. 'Great plan this was Keilah, join the Companions, huge, massive, Nord brutes. What did you think would happened? They would just open their arms and say, "lovely, little, puny, mage, rogue, Breton woman, welcome to our ranks". She always scolded herself when she was nervous, bad habit according to her dad. Then she took a silent, deep breath, and started to focus.

Finally the walked out on the courtyard. She noticed that there was a training area, and it was big. She looked around to see exactly where everything was located, things she could use to jump or pretty much just hide behind if he went berserk on her.

Vilkas turned around and took up a shield, "Do your best."

Keilah looked at him with confused eyes. "You're not going to use a sword?"

Vilkas gave her a grim smile "I really don't think it's a good idea, I'll defend myself. This is just to see what you can, so it should be quick."

So, he thinks that provoking her will make her loose control. That wasn't going to happen. She took a deep breath, took stance and focused.

Deep inside she knew that she didn't really win the battle, but she would never admit it to Vilkas, so she acted the winner and asked him if his arm hurt. Or the leg, where she had hit him as hard as she could with the flat side of the sword.

She didn't see the use in telling him that she had looked very carefully on his armour while walking behind him to see were the soft spots were. Better to have him think that every painful hit was merely an accident. She had a gloating smile on her face until Vilkas asked her to take his sword to Erlond, on top of the Skyforge.

Vilkas wasn't sure why he had a problem with the woman. Maybe it was the fact that she was a Breton, or that she used magic, or that it was obvious how smart she was every time you looked in to those almost black eyes.

She was very good with the swords, he had muttered that it was ok and then he sent her away with his sword up to Erlond. It felt safest if she, her tiny body and those eyes was far away from him. He left the courtyard and went down to his room. He was just going to stay away from her.

When she walked down from Skyforge she met Kodlak again. He smiled at her.

"I think you made an impression on Vilkas, don't you dare tell him that I said that, he would never admit it, but you did good girl."

She smiled back at him, she could already fully understand why everyone in the Companions listened to Kodlak, he had a way about him.

"Farkas will show you to your bed, you will get a locker as well. He's also the man you talk to about work, you're not done yet lass if you want to become a full member of the Companions." Kodlak said.

She liked the idea of a locker, she had never really had any place to store her things, and this way she would be able to loot and pick up even more things.

She was just going to stay away from Vilkas, that was probably for the best. She wasn't sure why she had a problem with him, but the flutter in her stomach every time his piercing eyes looked at her made her think that it was just best to stay away.

"So, here's the bed and there's your locker" She immediately started emptying her pockets and her bag.

She smiled up at him. "Apparently you're the guy I talk to about work."

"Aye, I handle the assignments for the recruits, you want to start already?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Ah, come and have dinner with us, meet everyone, It's always nice with some new faces around and everyone wants to see the newblood."

There was a lot of people, most of them where nice, some of them were not, but she just avoided those. Vilkas seemed to try to stay as far away from her as possible, and that was fine by her. She did however notice that her eyes kept wandering towards him.

She wasn't surprised to learn that he and Farkas were brothers, she was however surprised that they were twins. It didn't seem likely that two men who shared a womb for nine months could turn out to have such different personalities. Farkas did defend his brother adamantly.

"Really lass, he's usually a nice guy! Well maybe not nice, but likable enough. He's very smart, not as strong as me but quite strong, even for a Nord. They say I got Ysgomors strength and he got his smarts."

"He just doesn't like me, that's fine by me, really Farkas, don't push it, just leave him be."

"He's just stubborn, he'll warm up to you."

"Sure he will, in maybe ten years or so, when he's old and gray and has gone soft on the autumn of his years. Sitting at the fire with the grandchildren around his feet. He's really going to like me then."

"Oh now, easy there lass, we're not that old! And none of us even has children yet." Farkas laughed.

* * *

><p>Her first assignment was to clear out a nest of bandits, she was supposed to do it by herself. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't too much of a problem either. Years of practice, fire and ice at her hands and the small detail that she could heal herself did help however.<p>

She was pretty sure that she saw a frown on Vilkas face when she came back, 'So sorry I didn't die and made you a happy bitter man, you prick,' she thought to herself as she gave him a huge smile. He just turned around and walked away. That was what she was aiming for.

Farkas looked at her, then looked after his brother as he walked away and finally looked at Kodlak and they laughed at each other. She just shrugged her shoulders and walked down to the shops to sell her loot.

'Annoying, pestering woman! Girl!' he corrected himself, "no woman looked like that. She was a tiny girl!' He stomped down to his room at picked up a bottle of mead. She looked like a young boy, and she was mocking, and annoying. He picked up a sword with his other hand and started to swing it around. Finally just sat down on a chair, drinking and saw those black, teasing eyes before him.

* * *

><p>She was going to find a piece of some war ax. She was sure that this was something very important to the Companions, but since the person who knew the stories about the Companions was Vilkas, she had sort of avoided the history of them. But judging by Skjors expression, who told her what she needed to do, and Farkas, who was with her, this was a big thing.<p>

She had been with the Companions for just over a month. The days involved training, hunting, reading and usually mead sometime during the day, or time_s_. She had also spent a fair amount of her days just outside of Whiterun hunting with Aela.

She liked to belong to a group, to have somewhere to store whatever she found and to sleep in a bed. She really liked her bed.

She had been to see Kodlak in private a few times. She had the utmost respect for him. She didn't know if it was only due to the kind of man he was; goodhearted and intelligent, or if it was because he reminded her so much of her father. She assumed that it was a combination of the two.

As she walked along the road she did what she usually did, she picked up everything that could be of any use to her for making potions. She had noticed the butterflies and found it amazing that such valuable ingredients were literary just flying around and she kept trying to catch as many of them as possible. And then darkness came.

Keila almost lost it when she saw it "By the Nine! Farkas, can you see that!"

"What!" He immediately drew his sword.

"The bugs! Luna Moths and Torchbugs! I have never actually seen them alive! Help me catch as many as possible!"

"You know lass, they are pretty common in these parts, you can pretty much go out any night and pick as many as you please, there is no way I'm gonna start running around trying to catch bugs."

"Please Farkas! These Luna Moths are worth a fortune both up north and down south. They're not that common there."

Farkas muttered to himself, and then actually, to her astonishment, started to help her. She showed him how to catch the Luna Moths without damaging the wings and then she watched the massive warrior chase around for little bugs for the better part of an hour.

When they made camp at night she had a pouch full of them, She placed it carefully in the upper pocket of her backpack where she usually kept the herbs and bugs that she found.

"How come you do this, you've been running back and forth over the road, like a rabbit, all day picking things up, you probably walked three times as far as I did."

"Force of habit, my dad taught me about alchemy from when I was a small child. Herbs and bugs don't take up much space, but if you know what to pick, how to mix it and in what parts of the world that they are most valuable you can make a pretty decent living. Even if it can be hard to find a alchemy table to use you can still just sell the parts for the potions, not at the same price, but still quite enough."

"Have you really spent your entire life walking around?"

"Yes, dad was a battlemage, he was amazing, my mum died at birth and I just followed him around until he died. The last few years of his life I joined him on the battlefields. He hated it of course, but couldn't deny that I was good at it."

"Did he fight the way you do, with both magic and weapons?"

"Yes, It was my mothers idea to begin with, she was very good with one-handed weapons and saw the potential in combining the two. My father was very quick and did use daggers before he met her, but she taught him how to use swords, his technique with swords was still based on his use of daggers and that sort of came through in my training as well."

She saw a light turn on in Farkas eyes "Ah, that was it, I knew I recognized your sword style from somewhere, it does sometimes look like you are using a dagger. Interesting."

"How about you, how did you end up with the companions?"

"Me and Vilkas was found were rescued from a circle of Necromancers when we were just children. A Companion named Jergen found us, he took us with him. It's the only life I've ever known. But I like it."

"So you pretty much grew up to become a Companion?"

"Pretty much, I love it, and I love being around my twin brother. I know you probably don't like him. He's pretty difficult, but I know exactly how he's thinking and how he works."

"I just find it difficult to understand that you are twins, you look alike but you have such different personalities."

"I know I'm not as smart as him."

"That's not what I meant Farkas, at all!"

"Aya, I know, what I meant is that his brain is why he is the way he is. He sees things differently, he processes things and sees the result of every decision he makes in a completely different way than I do. I just do them, he thinks them over like hundreds of times. Really fast, but still, many times."

"You mean that he knows that every action has a reaction, and he knows what can happen form seemingly small decisions?"

"Aye, you're a smart girl, I'm sure you know how that works." Farkas said with a smile. She did, and she suddenly understood a bit more about the brothers.

"You two must have been quite the pair when you were kids."

Farkas let out a roaring laughter "Aye! I was as strong as a fully grown man and Vilkas smart enough for talking us out of trouble. It was good times. Kodlak and Jergen had their hands full with the two of us!"

"So he's been like you're dad too then? Kodlak I mean."

"Aye, best dad two wild lads could have. You know he really likes you, he hardly ever takes much notice of our new recruits, but he's asked a lot about you."

"Oh, I thought that was common, talking to him, so he gets to know you I mean."

"No, not at all, probably why Nadja is such a bitch to you, more than she usually is."

Keilah contemplated that for a while. She remembered the recognizing look that Kodlak had given to her when she walked into the room that first time. She couldn't remember ever meeting him before. He had been so determined to give her a chance, she knew she was hardly the typical companion material with magic, and size, but that never seemed to bother him for a second.

She wondered about it, but wasn't that worried. Kodlak was a good man, and even if he did have ulterior motives, she didn't thing she was at any risk. Any more risk that you normally was working as a companion.

"You need to sleep now lass, big day tomorrow, we'll get up before dawn to get there early in the morning. I sleep very light so you don't need to worry, you can rest peacefully."

"Thank you Farkas, for.. you know... being nice to me, helping me and everything."

"No worries, I like you a lot. You know, me helping you now means I will be the one vouching for you. You will be like my girl, I will always take care of you and stand by your side."

She weighted the words he had just said, that didn't mean that he... he wasn't like... interested in her, like in a girl – boy kind of way was he? She liked him and all but... Suddenly Farkas took a deep breath,

"Ehh, not sure that came out the right way there, I mean you're pretty and all, but... I mean..."

"Thank Mara, you had me worried there!" Keilah almost screamed. Farkas started laughing out loud.

"I've never been good with words, I mean, like I said, you look nice, I can see men liking you, but you're just... small and.. well, oh that didn't come out right. I like you, but more like..."

"... a sister" Keilah finished his sentence, "I know what you mean, you're handsome and all, and I have warm feelings for you, but I'm not attracted to you."

"Good. Agreed then, you're my little sister, running around like a little cute rabbit, and I'll take care of you. Sleep now"

Keilah smiled, suddenly she heard him muttering, it sounded like he said 'he'd been so mad at me if she'd misunderstood that'. She didn't thing about it much an finally fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I had a huge smile on my face all morning when I noticed that people had actually made the effort to put alerts on my story and add it to their favorites. You made my day!

4

"Hehehe, how you doin' in there?"

Keilah was so mad at herself, why, oh why does she feel the need to pull and touch everything? This wasn't the first time that habit had gotten her into trouble.

"I'm sorry! Rlease see if you can find something in the other room to open it. I think the bars are two heavy for you to pull up manually."

Suddenly she saw several men and women coming up behind Farkas. She couldn't make sense of the conversation, what they meant, but it was very clear that they were going to kill Farkas. But is seemed like they were waiting for him, or anyone of the Companions for that matter.

Then something strange happened, she couldn't believe her eyes. Farkas changed in front of her, into a werewolf!

When her initial shock vanished she did what she could from behind the bars. She healed him and threw flames around, what she assumed still was, Farkas, the best she could. The fact that she had been fighting alone for the last two years had been embarrassingly clear while they had fought their way here.

She had hit him a couple of times both with magic and her sword. Farkas, being the kindhearted man that he was, didn't scold her about hit. 'No worries lass, you're healing takes care of it, besides, if you use ice that doesn't hurt me much, being a Nord and all'. She still felt ashamed.

And now, she couldn't just stand her looking at the people trying to kill him, so she did her best from the position she was in. When they came towards her she just backed up and kept going. One man was backed up against the bars trying to back away from Farkas and to spare the magicka she simply broke his neck with a twist.

When they all lay dead on the ground Farkas ran away. 'Did he just leave me here?' But just as she thought that the bars started to move up, as she walked out and met Farkas. He looked a bit embarrassed.

"I hope I didn't scare you." She couldn't help smiling at the big man.

"No". He raised his eyebrows at her and she smiled even bigger, "Ok, at little at first, are you ok?"

"Sure, you're healing is amazing, and the way you broke that guys neck, where did you learn that? Didn't think anyone as small as you could do that."

"It's more technique than pure strength to that actually, you just need to know where to pull and where to push" Farkas just laughed and gave her a hug. "Eww, you smell"

"Oh sorry, I had to take the clothes form a drawer in the other room, my own are torn. These have probably been laying here for a while." He picked up the armor that was still ok and put it on while Keihla looted the bodies.

"These are silver swords!"

"Ah, yeah it's the silver hands, there after us in the Companions" Keilahs eyes widened.

"I thing you need to explain about werewolfs and companions now" And he did…

When he had finished, Keilah was amazed and also a bit worried.

"So, would I have to be a werewolf as well?"

"Oh no, some of us are actually working on a cure, or... rather Kodlak is. Vilkas is helping him as well. I'm just following them to be honest, the finer arts of thinking and reading is just not, well, my thing."

"Good, I really like to sleep so I wouldn't want to be one. Don't worry Farkas, I would never tell anyone, you know that."

"Aye, I know, it's just, I promised not to turn anymore, I hadn't in a really long time. I hope they don't get mad at me."

"You had no choice, I'm sure they will understand that Farkas, you did what you had to do to survive, no-one can blame you for that."

"Not sure Vilkas will see it that way though, he probably don't want you to know that we are werewolves."

"Why would he care what I know and think about that?"

"Just... You know, people aren't supposed to know, it's a secret to everybody."

"I won't tell anyone Farkas, you can trust me. If you want, I won't even tell anyone that you turned today. I'm sure we can come up with a reason to why you are wearing those stinking clothes."

He looked at her with warm eyes. "Thank you, but it won't do any good, they will be able to smell it on me, and see it. They'll know. Appreciate you're offer though, means a lot to me. But I will never be able to lie to Vilkas, he would never lie to me either."

"Ok, I'm sorry if I offended you, telling you to lie to you brother."

"No worries, you were just trying to help. It's nice to have someone being prepared to stand by your side even if you did something that's not completely right, apart from Vilkas." She gave him another quick hug. She was glad he was on her side, that she had him with him for this. She couldn't think of anyone else that she would have preferred at her side right now.

"Let's get out of here, It shouldn't be far now"

* * *

><p>Vilkas was sitting in the main hall when Farkas walked through the door. He's first thought was about the woman, she wasn't with him, she wasn't hurt was she? Then the smell hit him, Farkas had turned, that's when he almost started to hope that she had died, that she hadn't seen him turn. If she had, she would know what they were. He didn't even have time to say anything before Kodlak got up from his chair and Vilkas knew that he could smell the exact same thing as he did.<p>

"Let's get down to my chambers Farkas. Vilkas, you too."

Vilkas realized that if Farkas had turn in front of the girl, and if she was still alive, she was probably miles away by now. Farkas just gave them a look full of regret and walked by them towards the stairs. Vilkas put his hand on his shoulder and the look he got from Farkas, so full of shame, made him feel bad for his initial reaction of anger.

He knew his brother, and if he had turned, it was for a reason. He would never break a promise to Kodlak if it wasn't to save his life.

Kodak closed the door behind him, turned around and smiled at Farkas,

"I'm not angry Farkas, just tell me what happened"

"Keilah accidently locked herself in, behind some bars and she couldn't open them again. While we were standing there, a bunch of Silver Hands turned up. There were so many of them, I didn't have a choice" He studdered "I... I... turned, in front of her. They would have killed her too, just for being there with me."

Kodlak sighed. "Did you get her out of there?"

Farkas looked confused, "Of course! I found a release for the trap in the next room. What did you think? That I left her there?"

Vilkas suddenly realized that he might have missunderstood everything, and looked at Kodlak who obviously was starting to realize the same thing.

"So.. she's ok then, she didn't get scared and left or.. I don't know, tried to kill you or something."

"I think she got a bit shocked at first, but the she helped me from behind the bars, you know, throwing flames, healing me." Suddenly Farkas laughed out loud, "She even broke the neck on a guy who backed away from me and got a bit too close to her, didn't think anyone that small could do that. Said it was just about pushing and pulling in the right way."

Vilkas was truly confused. She didn't care! "So, she's ok with it? I mean werewolfs"

Farkas shrugged, "She seemed ok, had some questions, she probably want to speak to Kodlak, At least she seemed ok, once I told her that she didn't need to become one."

"So where is she?" Kodlak asked "If she is so fine with it, why isn't she with you?"

"Oh, she was going to sell some stuff to Adrienne, and then she needed to use the Alchemy table up at Dragonsreach, she picked lots of stuff along the way, ran around like crazy, picking up herbs and bugs, even swam out in a lake to catch some fishes. She's like a little rabbit, told her; you probably walked three times as far as I did." suddenly he looked a bit embarrassed, "She even had me helping her catch Luna Moths and Torchbugs, said they were worth a fortune in some places."

Vilkas tried to imagine his brother chasing small bugs in the middle of the night and with a look at Kodlak, who seemed to have the same thought, they couldn't help themselves. And once they had started laughing, they couldn't stop, finally tears started to roll down their cheeks.

"What?" Farkas was upset "She asked for my help! That's just not nice of you, she's a sweet girl!"

Vilkas laugh suddenly got stuck in his throat.

"Im sorry" Kodlak did his very best to regain his composure "It's just that I would have paid gold to see you chasing glowing bugs in the middle of the night."

Vilkas wasn't sure why his insides all of a sudden felt twisted. She managed to get his brother to chase bugs, he said she was a 'sweet' girl. He seemed very impressed with her in general. He couldn't be attracted to her, could he? She wasn't his type at all. He liked his women with curves, blond with blue eyes and big breasts. On the other hand, so did Vilkas. Usually.

"She did well then?" Kodlak still had a huge smile on his face.

"She's amazing, very capable, not really used to fight alongside with someone so she, well, missed a couple of times. Healed it up, and it wasn't too bad to begin with. Her fighting style is... not sure, never seen anything like it. But she is very good, got about as many as I did. Never left my side and did her part."

"She would be unused to it, she's been alone for two years."

Vilkas had heard that story as well, Kodlak told him about Keilahs dad, how they had walked around, and she had probably told Farkas as well by now.

"So, initiation tonight then, we agree?" Kodlak was looking at Vilkas.

"Yes, agree"

"I'll have word with Aela and Skjor as well. Aela has been eager to get her into our ranks all along and I'm sure Skjor is with us as well, she has impressed him greatly, he is very happy that she knows so much about potions. He has even mentioned that he would like to give her an alchemy table."

"She would like that, it would be good for all of us, she knows what she's doing with that stuff."

"You must thing so if she had you chasing glowworms in the middle of the night" Vilkas smiled at his brother.

"You're not going to let that go are you?" Farkas looked at him with a pleading face.

"No, never!" Vilkas smiled at him and put his arm around him. He loved his brother, he would never do anything to truly hurt his feelings, but he wasn't sure how I would react if Farkas was really in love with the girl.

* * *

><p>They were walking towards the stairs up to the main hall when Keilah came down the stairs, Aela har her arms around her shoulders and they were talking to each other in hushed voices. Keilah handed Aela bottle with an orange potion inside. To his surprise Vilkas noticed that Keliahs cheeks were blushing when she gave her the bottle and he couldn't help wondering what was in it. He had never seen her blush before. Aela just looked at him and winked, then she came up to the three of them and gave Farkas a hug.<p>

"You did good brother, she's keeper, take care of her."

Vilkas glanced at Keilah an noticed that she just smiled. This was bad, apparently everyone thought of her as Farkas' girl.

That wasn't uncommon, the person who was with you when you did your initiation mission and who acted as your first shield brother or sister was a person you came close to.

Both he and Farkas had been with Kodlak, Aela had been with Vignar and she in her turn had been the shield sister to both Ria and Njada, and was now quite close to both of them. Well, as close as you could get to Njada.

Vilkas had been with Athis and the feeling of resect they now had towards each other made him understand what could happened of the other person was someone you were attracted in to begin with.

Keilah could feel that her cheeks were still glowing, Aela had asked her for help to get a certain potion that hindered the conception of a child, apparently she wasn't too keen on asking Arcadia for it since she didn't fully trust her discretion.

It wasn't that Keilah mind doing it, not at all, she just didn't like to think about it, not when... well… men, could see her.

Kodlak gave her a smile "could you maybe wait in my rooms for me? I'll be there in a second; I just need a quick word with Skjor."

"Sure" She would really prefer not to think about Skjor at the moment, since she was pretty sure why Aela needed the potion, and of course, thinking about not thinking of him, made her cheeks blush even more. Aela just looked at her and chuckled. Keilah hurried her steps, looking down at the floor avoiding eye contact with the others.

She just loved Kodlaks two rooms! They were full of books, old beautiful weapons and even some things usefull for potionmaking lying around.

Her eyes got caught on a book in the shelf named 'The Windhelm Letters'. Her father had once said that it was her mother's favorite book, that she cried every time she read it but still loved it and read it over and over again. Keilah had never seen it before and now she couldn't help herself, she took it out of the shelf and opened it. She completely lost herself in the book and didn't even hear Kodlak enter the room.

"What are you reading?" She jumped as she heard his voice.

"I'm so sorry, I just... I love books and I've never seen this one before, my dad said it was my mother's favorite, and, well.. I'm sorry, I should have asked you permission before I took one of your books"

"Don't be silly, you can read any book you like, which one is it?"

"The Windhelm Letters"

"Ah, your mother was a woman of taste. It is beautiful. Just put it back when you finish it. It is one of my favorites as well."

"Thank you!"

"Farkas said you did well, he was very impressed, especially that you managed to break a man's neck with you bare hands."

"It's a matter of technique."

"He did mention that. It is still impressive. You have of course passed the test, that much should be obvious. I imagine that you have some questions regarding the lychanthrope?"

"I'm honestly not sure what to ask, I don't want to be rude, and, well, I don't even know what to ask."

"Just ask the first thing that comes to your mind."

"Can you control it? Or does it just happened randomly, or at full moon."

"We can control it, when we become weres, we can't stay in that shape for long, and not too often. The beast inside us can make themselves noticed to us now and then, but that is something others would hardly notice. It's more of a small reminder."

"Are all the champions Werewolves?"

"No, just the ones in the circle. That would be me, Vilkas, Farkas, Sjord and Aela. Aela and Skjor like it, me and Vilkas don't and are trying to find a cure. Farkas isn't too comfortable with it either, but not as bothered as me. I had... a dream about it that was… unsettling. I will tell you more about it another time though."

Trusting his words about finding out more some other time she continued with the one answer that she had already gotten from Farkas but did want to get confirmed from this man. She realized that Kodlaks greatest strength was that you trusted him unconditionally and you would do anything for him, he had that air around him that would make you go through fire and ice to help him if he asked you.

"Farkas said that I wouldn't need to become a werewolf, that no-one would ask that of me if I didn't want it."

"No, absolutely not, and the simple fact that you ask that question means that you would have to bring it up yourself, We know now that you are not interested in it. Truly, I am grateful that you are not. And I trust you to not tell anyone about it, that we are werewolves."

"No, never, your secret is safe with me, always."

"Thank you Keilah" He gave her one of his heartwarming smiles "Aela was truly right about you, you are an uncommon one"

"She things very highly of me."

"You should be proud, she does not often do that. You should listen to the people who praise you as well as those who don't. People have a tendency to only listen to the negative remarks about them. I take it that you and Farkas has come close on this journey?"

"Yes, he is truly like a very protective brother" She smiled as she thought of him, running around in the dark trying to catch bugs without crushing them. "And very helpful."

"Ah, yes, he did mention the bughunt. I would have liked to see that"

"It was truly something to see."

"Meet us at the courtyard at dusk, we will welcome you into our ranks then."

"Thank you Kodlak, for everything, and for the book. It means a lot to me to be able to read it."

"You are most welcome little one, just treat the books with care and respect and you can borrow anything you like."


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you all again. I am just thrilled everytime I check my mails. I hope you stay with me.

Lorrain: Thank you, I did notice that, don't now why I keep doing that mistake, it's in several places. I've taken the whole document to work to have the spell check in word instead of Open O, I hate word but it's check is better, and it checks grammar as well. (Not that it would have caught that perticular misstake but anyway). So the earlier chapters will be updated soon, hopefully in better shape. Just now noticed that you could make lines in he documents as well. Beginners! But thank you so much for taking the time to review. Another silly smile on my face!

* * *

><p>5<p>

The ceremony was nice. Kodlaks words was honest, she could tell. He would defend her and her honor whenever she needed it. The thought of it made her feel warm, no one but her dad had ever been prepared to do that.

Then it was time for the celebration, which apparently mostly was an excuse to get piss drunk. The kept handing her pitchers but she soon noticed that if she just left it some were someone else would drink it, if not Torvald then Farkas or Skjor, Aela drank her fair share as well. Keilah was not very good at drinking, and even the amounts that she was drinking now, which was a lot less than anyone else, made her head spin.

While she was sitting down, trying to focus, Njada came up to her.

"So, are you trying to take all the good men?" She didn't say it in a kind, humorous way either.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just stay away from Vilkas."

Keilah didn't see the point in telling Njada that she hardly had any need to worry. She just ignored her. She would probably have to deal with her sooner or later, but doing it when she was drunk was not a good idea. She had bad experience with dealing with people when she was drunk.

Njada left when Farkas almost fell down in the chair beside Keilah.

"How are you doing there, I've notice how you leave your pitchers all over, got your back though, emptying them so no one notice."

"Thanks Farkas, I'm not much of a drinker. Guess there's more ways than one to have someones back in the Companions."

"Aye lass, more ways than two as well."

She leaned her head against his shoulder and he leaned his cheek against her head.

"Getting drunk there?"

"My head is spinning, I don't particularity like my self when I'm drunk."

Her eyes suddenly stopped at Vilkas, they seemed to wander to him no matter what she did. He looked at her and then on Farkas. Then he turned toward Aela and kept talking to her, completely ignoring Keilah.

She sighed, she really wished that she didn't keep looking at him, that she didn't care since he obviously didn't like her. During the ceremony he had just kept his eyes on Farkas, and when he spoke highly of her he sighed, she had noticed that.

"My brother is keeping an eye on us."

"Probably scared that we're getting close, maybe he things we're in love." Farkas seemed to freeze up when she said it. "Boy would he hate that" she added.

"Yes he would."

"He's only brother, with a girl he hates."

Farkas just chuckled at that. "Don't think that's it rabbit."

"Yup, that's it, he hates me, keeps glaring at me, especially when you're around. Maybe you should just tell him that were not in love and make him happy again, so he stops glaring at me."

Kodlak walked up to them.

"What are you two cooking up."

Farkas answered "She thinks Vilkas is glaring at her because he thinks we're in love and that he wouln't like it beause he hates her." He sounded very amused when he said it.

"Is that so" Kodlak just smiled at her. "I don't think that is the reason"

Keilah sat up again, emptied her pitcher and said; "That's definitely the reason and I'm very drunk. I'm not sure that stair is a good idea you know. If this is how you drink you should have had the bedrooms on this floor. I'll fall down."

"That has been noted before, I've found it's one way to keep the amount of drinking down." Kodlak said.

"Relly? Seems a bit sadistic if you ask me."

"Don't worry little rabbit, I'll carry you." Farkas got out of his chair with great effort.

"You're piss drunk, you'll fall as well, or drop me."

"I would never drop you, you're so small it, would be like carrying a roast, or a cat. You tired?"

"Yes." Keilah could feel her eyes closing, it was hard to keep them up and then she felt Farkas hands on her.

"Come on rabbit, get up on my back." She clung to the huge, nice man, and fell asleep before she was even in the bed.

Vilkas thought his head was going to explode. During the ceremony his stomach hurt when he heard how admiring Farkas talked about her. And since then it seemed like they had been talking all bloody night.

Now they were sitting really close together and no matter how many pitchers of mead Vilkas drank, his eyes kept falling on her. When he saw her leaning against her brothers shoulder, his brothers cheek to her head, he lost his breath. He took what he felt was his last look into her pitch black eyes and turned to Aela.

"So, how are you and Skjor doing?" Aela took one look at him, looked over the table and back at Vilkas.

"We're doing fine. How are you doing?"

"Good, just fine" Aela looked toward Keilah and Farkas, and turned back to Vilkas.

"You should give her a chance, she's quite alright."

"I know. It's just... I don't know." And then he saw it, his brother took her on his back and carried her downstairs. That was when he really started drinking.

He woke up the morning after, on his bed, with all his clothes and his shoes on. He walked over to the bath and washed his face and drank loads of water. He still felt like a horde of horses and run over him, and to top that off, his thoughts kept going to Farkas and Keilah.

When he walked back to his room he saw Keilah coming out of the sleeping quarters. Had she slept in there? So she hadn't spent the night with Farkas? Vilkas couldn't make sense of anything at the moment. His pounding head wasn't much use at the moment either. Why would Farkas carry her down the stairs and just... leave her in her room? He realized that he had stopped and was just staring at her when she made a sudden halt and glared up at him.

"You ok?"

"My head is pounding, but besides that I'm just fine."

"Mine too, just took some herbs for that, you want some?"

All he wanted was to know what had happened between her and his brother. What they had talked about all bloody night long.

"I'll be fine, I just need something to eat and it will pass. I don't need anything from you."

"Fine, you be a mighty man and just suck the pain up." She smiled when she said it.

What was it with this girl? When he didn't want to kiss her silly he wanted to smack her bottom. She could make him furious in seconds, and then just turn around and walk of with a stride that made his crouch ache. She drove him crazy in thousands of ways during the course of just one day.

He walked back to his room, took his sword and walked out to the courtyard to practice, he just wanted to blow of some steam. He refused to look at her when she passed the table on the way outside.

Keilah stomped up the stairs, stupid, stupid ass. 'I don't need anything from you', ass, buttocks, worm, snake! She really wished that her stupid heart would catch up with her head really, really soon! Why! Why! Why did she even try? She took some food and sat down next to Kodlak.

"Hey there lass, you ok this morning?"

"I'm fine, just some headache. I took something for it so it should be fine soon." Vilkas walked by them with his sword in his hand and walked by out to the courtyard.

"Kodlak, I'm thinking about going to the college at Winterhold, I don't know if I will stay there, but I would like to go there. I once promised my dad that I would. Maybe not yet, but pretty soon."

"That sounds like a good idea, you should learn as much as possible about you're talents. Could you please do something before you go though?" Kodlak had a pleading look in his face.

"Of course."

"We've had news that a criminal managed to escape from the prison in Falkreath, could you find him? We have hunted this man many times, he is very dangerous and we need to make sure that he is not on the loose."

"Will I have Farkas with me?"

"No, I will send someone else with you, Vilkas has hunted this man many times and knows his ways, he will go with you."

Keilah froze, out hunting a man with Vilkas, it would be horrible, forced to look at him with his glaring eyes, probably for days!

"Pleas Kodlak, he hates me, he will be furious with me the entire time."

"He won't. You'll be fine. Besides, you two need to be able to work together."

It would be awful! She didn't want to spend more time with him. Seeing him for days, knowing that he hated her would be so painful. And she knew that she would be in a foul mood all the time. Just like she always was whenever he was near, and she would provoke him, making him hate her even more.

Kodlak took at close look at her face. "I know you can tell what kind of person someone is fairly quick, you would have had to learn that considering how you have lived. But the way you interact with people now is different, you understand that don't you?"

"What's your point?"

"In quick interactions with people you don't see their depth, in some ways they give you a simplified image of themselves. People are complex beings lass, and things are rarely as simple as you think. If someone is doing a quick deal with you, they evaluate you and act according to how they want you to perceive them in the next ten minutes, you might get a glimps of their real personality, but that is nothing you need to be concerned with in such a situation. In a group of people than you will spend a lot of time with for many years, how they approach you is very different. Like Njada, she's no charmer in general, but since she sees you as a threat in the competition of the man she's after, she treats you even worse than she would if it was just about the interaction between the two of you."

Keilah thought about what he had said and knew that he had a point. Her usual standards were more complicated now, she knew that. She just didn't really know how to function in a group that she was planning on staying with for a longer time. She had never been in this situation before and it was completely new to her.

"It's just something to think about. How Vilkas is to you, is not just based on what he thinks of you. This is especially true with Vilkas as well. Farkas is easier, he likes you or he doesn't, Vilkas makes his decisions based on a lot more factors."

"Farkas did mention that. That Vilkas saw the world differently that most others because is a lot smarter than most people."

"Farkas isn't stupid, at least not as stupid as he thinks. And when it comes to Vilkas and how Vilkas works, he's pretty close to a genius. I'm not sure Vilkas always realizes how good Farkas is at playing him."

Keilah was pretty sure that it was some part of this discussion that eluded her, that she didn't really understand. But she also knew that Kodlak wouldn't fill her in on the secret.

"Have you told Vilkas yet"

"No, I think I'll save that for an hour or two, until he has blown off some steam and had something to eat. You can start preparing for what you need. He'll be ready to go the minute I tell him."

A few hours later when she came for Aelas room she herd elevated voices from Kodlaks quarters. 'Oh great! Guess someone has had the good news'. Seconds later Vilkas was storming out and came into a sudden halt when he saw her.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes"

"Good, we will be leaving in five minutes, you will do exactly what I tell you, you will not speak unless spoken to, you will walk on the road and not run around picking up herbs and bugs and I will not, under any circumstances chase any glowing bugs for you, EVER! Is all that clear to you?"

She looked towards Kodlaks room and saw Kodlak and Farkas in the door whit amused smiles on their faces.

She gave Vilkas her most glowing, charming smile, the one she knew annoyed him "Yes master!"

Sometimes she hated herself. He was probably going to stab her down the second the left Whiterun for that smile alone.

But now he just muttered something, started walking and yelled "Five minutes"

Aela looked confused, "Whats with the glowing bugs comment?"

"Nothing, I better be going."

"Kodlak, did you get the glowing bugs thing?"

Kodlak just lauged, "Oh yes, actually it was Farkas..." Farkas broke him of

"Shut it! It was nothing you need to care about. Come here rabbit I'll follow you upstairs and you're coming with us Aela, I don't trust you with Kodlak right now."

Vilkas was furious, this time not just at Keilah but at Kodlak as well. Couldn't he just accept that he didn't want to go anywhere with her! There were plenty of Companions so you didn't have to like all of them.

Just the thought of the two of them together, alone for days, sleeping next to each other made his lower regions ache. She better stay behind him, not talking or she would drive him insane.

He grabbed his bag form his room and walked out on the stairs to wait for her. She came out with Farkas and Aela. Aela gave her a quick hug,

"You take car girl, and you Vilkas, you be nice to her! Keep her safe!" He just nodded.

Farkas held out his arms. "Come here Rabbit, give us a hug"

She jumped up in his arms and whispered something in his ears. Farkas just laughed and gave Vilkas a teasing look "Oh, he won't kill you and bury you in the woods, he'll be really nice to you."

The kiss he gave her on her cheek made Vilkas grind his teeth. There was no way he would ever stand looking at them if they became a couple, he knew that. Aela looked at Farkas and then at Vilkas, and back at Farkas. He just shrugged his shoulders at her.

Keilah walked up to Vilkas "I'm ready, let's go" And they headed off.

The last thing he heard was Aela laughing out loud "Oh Farkas, you sly dog". 'There's nothing sly about him at all' Vilkas thought, 'he's pretty damn obvious if you ask me.


	6. Chapter 6

_Thank you all again! I don't own anything, Bethesda does._

_This is a pretty short chapter, but the next one will be up really soon so you won't have to wait for long._

_Fallon-Idalia: I love your stories so it makes me very happy to read you're review. I never liked Njada, she constantly pissed me off when I was playing the game, every time I walked passed her wanted to punch her in the face._

_Lorrain: I'll definitely consider it. At the moment things are just pouring out of my fingers, and this being my first fanfic; I am so freaked out about everything that the smallest piece of criticism before I publish something may completely throw me off. It is only the speed of my writing and publishing that keeps me from over thinking it or even realize what I'm doing. I do really appreciate the offer though, thank you!_

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><p>6<p>

They walked without exchanging a single word for hours. She stayed behind him, he kept looking over his shoulder the first couple of hours to make sure she was keeping up, and she was. He had to admit that when it came to walking, she was quite capable. He knew that it was just a matter of time until she would be fed up with being quiet, but she surprised him and hardly said a single word to him all day. There was a 'thank you' when he gave her a spoon for the food but that was pretty much it. They made camp just before dusk, close to a stream.

"So are we to stay here until dawn?"

"Yes."

"Is it ok if I pick some ingredients now?"

Did she really think he hadn't noticed! "Don't pretend, I know you've been picking them along the road the entire way."

"That didn't slow me down though, so that doesn't count."

"Do what ever you like, just make sure you don't run off, stay close!"

"Ok!"

Keilah was very happy about the place he had choose to camp for the night. It was next to a stream so she might be able to find Histcarps, Silverside Perch and, if she was really, really lucky, Nirnroot. She walked down to the bank of the stream and started to take her armour of.

"What are you doing!" Vilkas screamed from the camp fire.

"I'm going to swim out in the water, there's still enough light for met to be able to see." She kept a light bag with her to put her findings in and left the rest of her things on the bank.

"What could possible be important enough for you to get out in that water? It won't be warm!"

"Histcarps and Silverside Perch!" She screamed back to him before she dived in. She didn't for a second believe that he even knew what that was, and he knew that, so that should piss him off. She smiled as she swam deeper.

It wasn't easy to catch fish with your bare hands, it took a lot of training but if you knew how to do it, it was less time consuming than using a fishing rod and you made sure that you got the fishes you wanted.

Some time later she hit the surface and immediately heard Vilkas screaming. She looked over to the bank and saw him fighting three big wolves. She found it strange since they usually never attacked close to a fire but since it would help to just tell them that, she swam as fast as possible towards the shoreline. When she could feel the bottom of the lake she stood up and ran towards Vilkas with ice spikes coming out of he hands.

Just then Vilkas missed one of the wolves attacks and it's jaws struck down on his leg. She saw him limping and changed one of the hands to healing, it was vital that he got up to finish the wolves off with his sword.

Finally he got up and she turned against the wolves with both hands again, 'Not far now', she could see her sword not far from Vilkas. But by the time she was at her sword the last wolf screamed and the cold air hit her. The water had been cool but by now she was shivering.

"Here" Vilkas threw a blanket at her. "You need to get warm." She happily accepted it and sat down as close to the fire as possible.

"Don't get to close there, you'll catch fire" She didn't answer and just tried to focus on her body trying to stop it from shivering. Vilkas knelt down behind her and started rubbing her upper arms and her back to get her heat up. She really appreciated the gesture since she was colder than she could ever remember being.

Then it hit her, she had been in the water for a long time and had used magic to be able hold her breath, The water had been cold but not cold enough to make her this cold. She had drained her magika.

"P-p-pleas, my b-backp-p-pack"

"What do you need?"

"M-magicka p-p-potion, I'm d-drained" She could hardly speak and her entire body was jumping. Vilkas came with the potion, took of the cap and put it to her mouth. A few minutes later she stopped shivering. She was still cold but it was a normal cold.

"I'm going to get your armour, just stay here by the fire."

He came back a few minutes later with a pelt that he put next to the fire. "Here, sit on this" She laid down on it.

"I used magic to stay under water, and when I heard you screaming and saw the wolves I just tried to kill them. Since I usually just use magic from one hand I don't use as much energy. You were so far away that I had to use a more complicated spell and regeneration magic is very consuming as well. I miscalculated. When you get completely drained the magic uses heat for energy."

"Thank you, for your help." That was all he said, but she couldn't get the look on his face when he gave her potion, out of her head.

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><p>Vilkas didn't have the heart to tell her that the fact that she came running was the reason he had been hurt. That she was the main reason why the wolves had been able to catch him by surprise to begin with.<p>

When she started to take of her armour he had almost choked, and suddenly she was standing in just her tunic and undergarment. The beast inside him roared and he was getting harder than he could remember being since his teens. The sun was setting behind her and he could clearly see the outline of her naked body underneath her tunic. Her fair skin was almost glowing in the light.

She wasn't as boyish as he had imagined, her armor hid the curves she had very thoroughly. Then she dove into the water and he was standing dumbfounded by the fire, trying desperately to breath slowly and silence the beast inside him. He sat down and stared into the fire trying to decide what he was going to do when she came out of the water.

He couldn't help noticing that she hadn't brought anything to put around herself. If she came up soaking wet, with her clothes clinging to her body he wasn't sure if he could contain himself by slow breathing, brothers girl or not.

His mind went back to the shapes he had seen of her body, he smiled and closed his eyes and that was when the wolves had attacked. He was in control of the situation when she came running. It took him by surprise, if he doubted how chilly it was he only had to look at her nipples that were trying to burst out through her tunic. Those nipples was all he could see, and he completely missed the wolf that was attacking his leg.

While he was swearing to himself he had noticed her shivering, even after she had received the blanket she kept shivering so he did his best to warm her, rubbing her carefully. He hadn't known that it was possible to overuse the energy when using magic. But then he hardly knew anything about magic.

Now, while lying down trying to sleep, he could still remember what her body felt like under his hands. And her smell, she smelled like flowers in sunshine. His thoughts kept going back to her curves, her smell, the nipples and how her body felt and when he started to get hard again, he groaned.

"Are you ok?" He jump, surprised that he hadn't noticed that she was still awake.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were awake."

"I'm still a bit cold."

"I hope that whatever you caught under water was worth it."

"It was. Histcarp can restore stamina, or you can make a potion for breathing under water. Silver Pelch can also restore stamina. Should help you while fighting."

"What, just chewing on them?"

"That can help a little, but they are more efficient if you mix them in a potion with at least on other ingredients with the same effect."

"Can't you just mix them now?"

"No, I need an alchemy table with different liquids for it, just mixing them wont help, it would be the same effect if you just chewed on both of them at the same time."

"But it would work a little?"

"Yes" He listen to her voice, when she wasn't mocking him it was quite beautiful. Like this, when she was slightly tired, soft, and talking about something that she liked. Because it was obvious that she loved talking about alchemy and potions. He smiled to himself, all of a sudden he understood how she had managed to convince Farkas to chase bugs, the smile froze at the thought of his brother.

"You should try to sleep, I sleep light so you don't have to be worried."

"Is that because of the werewolf-thing?" Her question startled him, how she talked about it so lightly, like it wasn't a big thing.

"What makes you thing that?"

"Farkas said the same thing, when we were out." He really didn't want to think about her and Farkas, in anyway, doing anything, together.

"Just sleep. I'll wake you up tomorrow." A while later he fell into a light sleep and kept dreaming of black eyes and hair, fair skin, hard nipples at the edge of firm, perky breasts and luscious dark red lips, drinking from a bottle.

Vilkas woke her up the morning after, she hadn't expected that he would still be nice to her, but he was. He wasn't really a ray of light but he wasn't ignoring her and he walked next to her instead of making sure to keep the distance and having her a few steps behind. Out of habit she kept harvesting herbs that were by the road.

"Tundra cotton, helps to resist magic." She kept telling him what she picked and some of the things it was good for. He didn't really comment on anything she said, just looked at her and nodded.

"Look, Red mountain flower," she bent over and picked a few of them. "They restore magicka, I had them in potion I drank yesterday."

She suddenly, once again, remembered looking at his face when he opened the bottle and put it to her mouth. His wide, cleft chin, stubbled cheeks, wide nose, piercing blue eyes and that mouth, her thoughts lingered on the mouth. She shook her head and looked down on the flowers. Thats when a story her dad ones told her came to mind.

"My dad once told me a story about these. Once there were only blue and purple mountain flowers. Then Mara fell in love with a mortal man and he fell in love with her as well, they met in secret and finally Mara agreed to become mortal, to be able to stay with him. But the other gods found out and Akatosh and Lorkhan were infuriated so they lured the man into a trap and killed him. When Mara found him, she cried a river of tears that washed the mans blood into the ground. The next spring the flowers that grew on that spot were red instead of blue or purple, since then they have spread all over the nine kingdoms."

She looked up at Vilkas who gave her a curious look, so she continued, "They say that if you pick the flowers at night while crying for your lost love, they don't restore magicka, they heal a broken heart."

"Do you believe that?" he sounded amused when he asked her the question.

"No, of course not! But then I've never tried. I just think it is a beautiful story." She smiled at him and started to walk along the road again while putting the flowers in her bag.

Later that day they arrived at Falkreath. Vilkas walked around and talked to a lot of people while she was sitting bench just waiting for him. At first she tried to keep up with him but finally got tired of not understanding why he asked the questions he did. They made no sense to her at all. A few hours later he walked up to her.

"I think I know where to go. I have chased and found this man several times before, he's not that smart so he probably is in one of the places he has used before to hide. I was just trying to find out which way he was running, that way I know were to look. We will probably find him by tonight or tomorrow at the latest. We are heading west."


	7. Chapter 7

_Oh dear! I found the stats section, (yes, I am new to this and keep getting small or big surprises every day). I was deliriously happy about the favs and alerts that were sent to my e-mail, and then I saw the stats! I know that it is probably much of the same people that are counted each day, but gosh darn I didn't knew there were that many! _

_Thank you, all of you, for reading this. I feel very honored._

_Fallon-Idalia: Thank you, you are making me blush! And I'm glad I'm getting better. It gets easier all the time. It might be that I'm starting to get to know the characters myself._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything of this, Bethesda does._

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><p>7<p>

They found him at night. He immediately recognized Vilkas and attacked with fury, so they were left with little choice but to kill him. They headed back home but Vilkas decided that they needed to camp out another night since Keilah was close to sleepwalking at dusk.

"We're going to stay here for the night, you need to sleep."

"No, we can keep walking if you want, I'll be ok."

"You almost walked into that tree, you need to sleep." Vilkas gave her a stern look and she just nodded. He was happy about that, he didn't want to argue with her but would have knocked her down if he had been forced to. She needed sleep.

He made a fire and gave her some bread and cheese. She took it and ate some, minutes later she pulled the blanket around herself, laid down and went to sleep.

He sat on the other side of the campfire and looked at her. The fire created patterns in her face, he noticed that she smiled in her sleep. That made him think of the smile that she had given him earlier that day, after telling him the story of Mara. It had made his heart skip a beat, it was the first time she had given him an honest smile.

It would be nice if it was true that those flowers could heal a broken heart. Images of her and his brother sitting next to each other, of her caressing his brothers back as he carried her away, his brother kissing her on her cheek just before they left. He couldn't hurt Farkas and take a girl from him, not if he truly loved her. And if Farkas loved her, Vilkas was going to need something that could heal a broken heart.

He laid down as well, took another look at her and decided that the only thing he could do was talk to Farkas, he was sure he could lure out information from him about how he really felt for the girl. When he knew that, he could decide what to do. His heart felt slightly lighter when he had made a decision and he manged to fall into a shallow sleep.

The day after they walked into Jorrvaskr and Kodlak greeted them.

"Did everything work out, did you find him?"

"Yes, we were forced to kill him though, he recognized me from our previous encounters."

"Keilah, you can go and put away your things. Vilkas, follow me to my room." Keilah walked off and Vilkas followed Kodlak downstairs.

"Did everything go well? With you and Keilah I mean, did you get along?"

"Yes, no arguments. And Farkas was right, when it comes to potions, she knows what she is doing. She did good with the fighting as well, not that we ran into a lot of trouble." Images of her shivering in front of the fire were suddenly very clear in his head.

"What?" Kodlak had noticed his uncomfortable look.

"Did you know that mages can drain themselves? Sort of use up their energy so that their body uses their body heat instead of magicka?"

"Yes, I've red about it, it can be very dangerous, they can even die from it. Why? Did it happen?"

"We ran into some wolves, she had been in the water and didn't have her sword, so she used magic in both hands after using magic in the water as well. Apparently restoration spells can be very energy consuming, so when she healed me she overdid it."

"Hmm, it's probably a good thing that she is about to go to the college, she needs to learn how to recognize the signs in her body even under pressure. I'm surprised that she didn't already knew that, her dad must have taught her these things."

"She said it was due to a combination of things. That she was cold and..." That's when Kodlaks words hit Vilkas, "Wait, she's leaving?"

"She has talked about it, it would be good for her, none of us can teach her more about magic and considering what happened she needs to learn more."

Vilkas head was spinning, she was leaving? She just joined! He hadn't even talked to Farkas yet!

"She'll come back, she is just so used to wandering, I don't think she can stay at one place for that long, at least not initially. To keep her, we're gonna have to let her go and trust that she returns, and give her reasons _to_ return." Kodlak put a hand on his shoulder and as always, when Kodlak ensured him about something he felt calmer. He was still worried, but calmer.

Keilah found Aela and Farkas in Farkas room. The bar in there made it a good place to meet up, have a mead and talk in smaller groups.

"Hey there Rabbit, you ok? He didn't kill you and buried you in the woods then?" Farkas smiled as he walked up to her and gave her a big hug.

"No, he was quite alright, after the silent first day, that is." Aela gave her a hug as well.

"So you found him?"

"Yes, he's dead, it was quite interesting to watch Vilkas track, he's very good."

"Yup, taught him everything he knows." Aela looked very proud.

Keilah looked at Aela with big eyes, "You taught him? Can you teach me?"

"Oh no girlie, of you get one more skill _I'm_ going to have to kill you and bury you in the woods."

"What? That's not fair! Farkas! Tell her!"

"I'm not getting in the middle of a girl fight, no way. Besides, aren't you going to that college, Kodlak mentioned it."

"Yes, I... I promised my dad once, and besides, I need to learn more. I messed up when we were out."

Aela gave her a worried look "What happened?"

"I used too much energy, I was already cold so I didn't notice that I was beginning to use too much magicka. Dad told me that there were other ways of noticing it, but he never had time to teach me. I could have died."

Farkas looked utterly confused, "I don't get it, used too much magic?"

Keilah tried to explain "It's like when you are swinging your sword, you use stamina, when you are out of stamina you can't swing your sword anymore, the muscles says no and you can't lift it."

"That has never happened. But I guess it could, Ria sometimes is so tired she can hardly lift her sword."

"When you use magic you're not using muscles and stamina, you use your mind and magicka. When you run out of magicka the mind doesn't stop working and the mind starts using other types energy, heat energy at first, thats why you stop when you feel that you are getting cold. It is a special kind of cold, but I'm not good enough to notice the difference if I'm already cold, apparently."

"That is probably a bad thing if you're planning on using magic up here in the north." Aela gave her a hug. "You should go, we're gonna miss you though. You really managed to get under our skin girl, some more than others. And you better come back as often as possible, don't make me track you, cause I will."

Keilah had been very determined to go to the college, to learn. But something had happened with Vilkas when they were out. He had been nice to her, she could perfectly recall exactly how his hands felt when he tried to rub her warm, his face, every detailed ont was etched into her memory.

She didn't want to leave. But she needed to go, she needed to know how magic worked from people who were masters. If Vilkas hadn't been there, and she had used more magic, she could have died. She had been close before, but that was the closest she had been.

They heard Vilkas coming before he entered the room, he screamed in the hallway outside "Farkas, I need to talk to you!" And as he came through the doors he stoped. "Oh, hi Aela, hi Keilah. Can I have word with Farkas, in private please?"

Keilah looked at him, she really needed to go, but she would make sure to come back, often. But what if he found someone while she was away? Some big Nord, with curves and blue eyes, with all those things she could bet he was used to women having. That would break her heart. She got up and stared walking out of the room next to Aela.

Keilah and Aela started to walk out of the room and Vilkas had to restrain himself to not push them out so he could talk to Farkas. Aela was just behind Keilah and when she passed him she gave him a wink and said, "So now you remember her name?"

Farkas just looked at him with a smile "I heard everything went well, and you were nice to her, thanks!"

"So Farkas..."Vilkas didn't really now were to begin, he scratched his head and started to walk back and forward in the room.

"Hey, are you ok? Please Vilkas, sit down, you're making me dizzy!" Farkas took a good look at his brother. If he was lucky he had been drinking for a while and wouldn't be to perceptive.

"So Farkas... you and the girl?"

Farkas smiled a huge smile, "What about us?" The 'us' mad a cold chill go down Vilkas spine.

"Do you like her?"

"Aye, I like her a lot! She's really nice, she never makes fun of me, like just now, I didn't really understand what she meant when she talked about magic and stuff. She doesn't laugh or mock me, she just explains so I understand. She's sweet." This was bad, really bad, he really liked her.

"So you two, are you, you know..."

Farkas looked at him, took a sip of mead. What was with him? He was never like this! "Are we two, what?" Another sip of mead. Damn this was hard!

"Are you, you know, interested in her." Vilkas had to admit to himself that that wasn't a very subtle question. It was pretty damn straight to the point.

Farkas just kept sitting there, with a huge grin in his face. "You know what brother? I'll answer your question if you tell me why you are asking."

'Damn, damn, damn! No, not very sublte at all'. Vilkas thought. But there was not turning back now.

"No reason, just curious you know, need to know what my brother is up to."

This time Farkas laughed out loud, "Come on, 'just curious', and you're supposed to be the smart one! I just want to hear you say it out loud. I doubt you've even said it inside your head yet. Humor me Vilkas"

He realized that Farkas was right, he hadn't once really thought it, that he was, what was he?

"I'm... I don't know."

"The truth is a very releasing thing! Spit it out!"

Why was he so cheerful? Vilkas just realized that it was something very odd about the situation.

"Wait a minute..."

"Starting to come to you now, damn! I would really have liked to hear you say it."

It suddenly dawned on him, Farkas eyes on him every time he was close to Keilah, the smile over her shoulder when he hugged her as they were about to leave. Aelas comment, 'You sly dog' and... by Talos! Kodlak! Kodlak so insistent that the two of them had to go together, finding a man was something they never were two when doing. And the comment, 'give her a reason _to_ come back.'

"Damn it Farkas!" He screamed it out loud.

Farkas just laughed loud, "It was pretty obvious from the beginning, just thought I'd give you a push so you would realize it faster yourself. Kodlak saw it pretty early as well. We never discussed it, but he knew what I was doing. Aela figured it out just when you were about to leave. I'm quite happy you figured it out and came to see me about it, Aela had the craziest plans."

"I can't believe this!" If he hadn't been so relieved he would probably have been furious, he sat down and took the bottle of mead that Farkas was handing him. "Why?"

"I might not be a smart man brother, but I know you better than anyone, sometimes better than yourself."

Then it hit Vilkas. "But what about her, you've been playing with her as well, maybe she's madly in love with you?"

"Nope, definitely not, we've already talked about that, when we were out, you know, for the shard. She's not. I do really like her so if you hurt her I will be very angry with you."

"You know, she could hurt me as well, besides, this is not a one sided thing. We're not even sure if she likes me."

Farkas was just about to drink when he stopped with the bottle halfway to his mouth and just looked at Vilkas.

"And you're supposed to be the smart one! Really? You need to start working on those muscles if thats what you really think about her, that's all I have to say about that."

"What! You can't know that for sure!" Could he?

"No sure, she could really hate you." He had never realized that Farkas was so good at sarcasm. "You're an idiot! You two have been walking around each other with sparks flying around you since the first day."

The comment made Vilkas smile big, at least Farkas was sure, that was at least something, and probably Kodlak and Aela as well.

"So brother, do you're big brother, who just did you a huge favor, a small favor," Farkas was leaning toward him with a

that big smile on his face. The same bloody smile that hadn't left his face for the entire conversation.

"What?"

"Just admit it, out loud, I really want to hear it."

He kind of liked the idea of saying it out loud. That made it real.

"I like her." Farkas grin seemed to be contagious, Vilkas could feel it spreading over his face as well.

"Just 'like'?"

"Suck it up, it's all you're going to get from me today."

"Ok ok ok, I'll settle for that. You 'like' her. All of that tiny little her. She is very small!"

"I know, tiny and perfect." Farkas just chuckled at the comment.

"Aren't you scared you're gonna crush her, when you, you know..."

"No, not really." He had done his very best not to think about that, considering he had thought that she was Farkas girl. Now he let his mind run free. Nope, he was not afraid of that.

"Good luck brother, you're going to need it, she might be small, but she's feisty, it won't be easy."

"I know."

They sat quiet for a while and then Vilkas fully understood what just happened. "Farkas"

"Yes?"

"Thank you! Really thank you, and I have to say, I am very impressed. You are really amazing, and smart when you want to. You sure played me this time."'

"Nah, don't know about the smart thing. But I know you and I know how you work. I can just imagine the panic you got when you thought I liked her and then admitted that you wanted her too. Wish I would have seen that."

"You're an ass."

"Hey now, you're gonna owe me for a while for this, just so you know." Vilkas just walked over to his brother and gave him a big hug.

"I know."


	8. Chapter 8

_This is a pretty short chapter, again, one of those fillers. But very necessary. Thank you again to all you readers._

_Fallon-Idalia and Lorrain; Thank you! Your reviews always makes me smile and blush, I love them! No need to worry about updates. I'm surprised myself how easy the writing is at the moment. And even if I hit a bump in the road, I am currently about five chapters ahead. ;)_

_As always, I don't own Skyrim, Bethesda does._

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><p><span>8<span>

When Keilah woke up the next morning she heard a roaring laughter from the common room, so she got upstairs in just her Tunic and pants. Her armor was starting to smell so she needed to clean it during the day.

When she came upstairs she noticed that pretty much everyone was up, and that Vilkas too was only wearing his tunic and pants. She couldn't remember seeing him without his armour before and noticed that he was smaller than she had thought. She liked it. Not that he was small, even for a Nord, and he was tall, but not a massive package of muscles.

"Keilah, come here! Vilkas is a lousy storyteller and I want to know what happened when you finally killed that man!" It was Skjor who was waving at her pointing at a chair Aela was pulling in between them.

She took some food on a plate and sat down on the chair.

"It's really not that much to tell. We found him, he attacked us, well, attacked Vilkas to be honest, and Vilkas killed him."

Skjor eyed her with disappointment, "Talos! You're as bad as he is, what was that? Three sentences?"

"Two" Aela corrected him and he stuck his tongue out at her. "So, anything else interesting that happened, you told us about the mistake you made, but, nothing else, interesting, to share?"

Keilah shrugged. "No, oh I found some Histcarp and Silver Pelch, they are really good for stamina potion"

"Isn't that fishes?" Skjor said with a smile.

"Yes, you can find them in streams. They are not that uncommon, but hard to catch."

"You brought a fishing rod?" Skjors smile seemed even bigger

"No, I can catch them with my hands, I just swam into the water."

Vilkas knew exactly what Skjor was fishing for anyway. He just looked at him with an angry face.

"Interesting" Skjor gave him a wicked smile, "Swam into the water did you? So are you going up to the magician today, to use those fished?"

"No, I've made a lot of potions already, we should be fine for a while. I'll just dry these so I can use them later."

Vilkas sighed, obviously Aela had told Skjor, and he wondered if there was anyone who didn't know by now. He got up to go downstairs for a bath, but he did give Keilah a smile as he walked by.

* * *

><p>Keilah wasn't sure what she was going to do the rest of the day. Her entire body felt restless. She knew that she should prepare for her departure, but she couldn't. She went through her locker and picked out the things she would need. Potions mostly, she couldn't imagine anything else she would need. A horse maybe but a quick check in her purse made her realize, that she even though she might be able to afford one, it wouldn't be a very good one, and she would be completely broke.<p>

"Hey there Rabbit, what are you doing?" She turned around and smiled at Farkas.

"I'm trying to figure out how long it will take me to afford a good horse. Not that I mind walking but it is pretty damn far to Winterhold."

"Aye, a horse would be good for that journey. You could take a carriage you know. Don't know how much that would cost you though."

"I'm not too fond of carriages, but I guess that is an option."

"So you are really going?"

"I need too Farkas. I need to learn about these things."

"I know, It's still going to be empty around here. I'm going to miss you." She got up and gave him a big hug.

"I'm going to miss you too. I will be back you know."

"You'd better, or I'm going to track you down, I'll bring Vilkas too, you wouldn't stand a chance."

"Don't think I would."

"Would what?" Vilkas asked as he walked through the door.

"Just telling Rabbit here that she better come back, if she doesn't we'd go chase her down. She wouldn't stand a chance."

"No she wouldn't. We could just follow the trail of harvested herbs." He smiled at her. Again! The second time just that day. She could feel her cheeks flush and quickly looked down on the floor, knelt down and put her purse back in the locker before she closed it.

"I need too… ehh, go find Aela." Farkas left but she could feel that Vilkas was still in the room.

"So when are you leaving?" His voice was maybe not as dark as Farkas, but it was pretty dark. She took a deep breath and turned around to look at him.

"Soon, I just need to collect some things, and find a good route to get there." He looked at her and nodded. She realized that she probably had never seen him without his war paint either. His eyes weren't quite as piercing without it, but they were still beautiful. She blushed again and she saw him smile.

She blushed so easily, it was adorable, the sudden rush of blood was so potent he could smell it in the air.

By Mara, he wanted her and she did seem to want him as well. And now she was leaving. She had to come back. Farkas may have been joking but Vilkas was dead serious, he would track her down.

Without her armour and hood, in just the tunic and pants, with her thick black hair falling down almost the full length of her back like a dark waterfall, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

When they had talked about it the evening before Farkas hadn't really understood it, 'Sure, she's pretty, but beautiful? She's so small, and I don't know, I guess I just don't see it.'

He took a step towards her and put his hand on her soft cheek, "You better come back, if you don't, I _will_ come find you." She looked at him with big eyes and just nodded.

She was hyperventilating for minutes after Vilkas had left the room, she could still feel his callous hand on her cheek. Was this really happening? She picked up her armour and walked over to the washroom to clean it. Anything to keep her mind of the, usually, broody man.

When she walked out of the room, Skjor came running down the stairs, screaming. "Get your bloody armour on, there's a dragon at the Western Watchtower!"

She got her armour on faster than she ever had before, everyone was ready about as quickly as her and before she knew what was happening she was running towards a dragon. Skjor was running on one side and Vilkas on the other.

"You've seen a dragon before, didn't you, at Helgen?" Skjor was perfectly capable at running and talking at the same time. She usually was as well, but the thought of another dragon made her terrified.

"Yes."

"So, do you have any good advice?"

"No." She really didn't, her mind was completely blank.

"You must know something, you survived the attack!"

"Yes, but that time I was running away from the dragon, not towards it." Skjor, Farkas and Aela laughed.

"That is probably the best way" Aela agreed, "but we need to make sure it doesn't reach the town."

"I know, just that I don't really have any bright ideas right now."

When they were getting closer to the watchtower she heard the dragon. The sound of its wings and roar was chillingly recognizable to her. But when she saw it she halted. "It's ice!"

Vilkas stopped next to her "What?"

"It's blowing ice, not fire, the last one was breathing fire." She watched the dragon soaring through the air. "We need to get it down on the ground."

"You're right, we might be skilled archers but we can't kill it as long as it is air born. It will make less damage from the ground as well. Hopefully they are not that fast on the ground. Aela, Vilkas and Farkas, aim for the wings. Get it down on the ground!" Skjor continued to scream out orders to everyone but Keilah just watched the dragon. There wasn't much she could do until it landed.

"What are you thinking girl?" That was Vilkas, he asked the question without ceasing the endless stream of arrows. All of the companions who used bows were extremely skillful. They hit the dragons wings over and over again.

"That ice probably won't do much good, I need to use fire."

"Just be careful, stop if you're starting to feel cold." She looked at him, the fact that he kept saying kind words to her made her warm inside.

"I have potions, don't worry"

Finally Aela had a perfect hit on the elbow of the dragonwing and it started to fall towards the ground, it did soar pretty far and they all started to run towards it. Keilah was worried that they would run out in front of her, that would keep her from being able to throw flames. But they didn't. She assumed that her light armour allowed her to run faster than the men, and Aela has no intention in getting anywhere near the dragon.

She ran towards the dragon that was down on the ground, still breathing out ice towards the soldiers close to him. She saw that they did manage surprisingly well, probably because they were Nords and could stand the cold better than most people.

As soon as she was close enough she threw flames on the dragon from both hands. The dragon roared and turned its massive head towards her. She stood her ground, kept the flames aimed at it and as she saw it opening its mouth, she threw herself to the side. She saw Farkas looking at her, he nodded and ran towards the other side of the dragons head, Vilkas followed him, as Farkas hit the dragons neck from above, Vilkas slid on his knees underneath it and cut it from below. When the dragon furiously turned its head toward the new attackers, Skjor and Athis quickly attacked it from the other side. Giving the twins the opportunity to back off and get ready for the next attack.

Keilah was watching in awe, realizing that the Companions were perfectly attuned to each other, everyone knew what the other ones were planning. Even the archers shot the dragon perfectly between the warriors. Every time the dragon tried to lift its head to get away from the blows she threw flames at it, forcing its head down and at the same time had some hope that the fire stopped it from roaring out ice.

Suddenly the dragon cried a different kind of scream, it was dying. Keilah could almost hear what it was saying and the sadness that spread inside her made her walk towards the dragon. Then Vilkas was there, holding her arm.

"Be careful, wait!"

"But it's dying, can't you hear the anxiety!" Vilkas looked surprised but didn't let go of her arm.

Then the dragon turned into a glowing mass, flames came from it and the parts that didn't fly away with the wind quickly burned down to the ground.

That's when it happened. A glowing light blew from the dragon, directly into Keilahs chest. She could hear the dragon, and in seconds, it felt like she relived its entire life, it felt like it had lived forever. She could feel its strength and powers filling her up but also how it felt at i's death moment and she felt tears streaming down her cheeks. And the she fell to her knees, breathing heavily.

When she looked up she saw the Companions and soldiers standing around her, just staring.

"It's not possible!" Someone murmured.

"Dovahkiin!" She didn't understand what they meant. Vilkas reach out his hand, she took it and he pulled her up. She was standing right in front of him looking straight into his eyes. He looked... sad, worried and upset.

"What do they mean? I don't understand." He just shook his head and looked desperately towards Farkas.

"Keilah, you're dragonborn." Farkas answered her question.

"I don't understand what that means."

Suddenly the ground around her started to shake, it was like a loud roar that swept over the lands. "What is that?"

Vilkas just sighed, "It's the Graybeards, come on, we need to get to Kodlak."


	9. Chapter 9

_Thank you so much for your reviews I loved them all, I'm happy you like the story._

_Sandradee: Yes he does! (Vilkas, I mean) ;)_

_RavingSunshine: You must join, immediately! He is sort of like that in the game, at least that's how I have perceived him. Not saying I'm right though. _

_Fallon-Idalia: Hahaha, yes a huge tracking Vilkas would be awesome! I'm glad you think I kept to his character. I'm a bit scared that I'll completely mush him up. Although I think he is a bit mushy, you know, big warrior with a golden heart._

_Lorrain: I probably shouldn't have said that, seems like it jinxed it and I hit a bump yesterday, I think I figured it out though! And as for the change in the story, I felt it was necessary as well so it's nice to hear that you agreed._

_As always, I do not own The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Bethesda does._

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><p>9<p>

Vilkas looked at her. He felt a hopelessness he had never felt before. Kodlak was sitting in his usual chair and Keilah in the one on the other side of the table. Farkas was leaning in the doorway next to Kodlak and Vilkas was sitting on the desk, trying to wrap his head around what had happened.

Aela and Skjor came through the door, Aela went straight up to Keilah and hugged her. Skjor turned to Kodlak.

"The Jarls sends his regards. He wanted to see Keilah of course, I explained that she was... well, that she needed time."

"What do I need to do?" Keilah spoke for the first time since she asked what the call from the Graybeards was.

"You need to go see the Graybeards, if they call for you, you need to answer Keilah." Kodlak sounded tired as well, but determined.

"I still don't understand what all this means, I have never heard of a Dragonborn."

"There hasn't been one in a very long time. The Dragonborn absorbs a dragons soul when it dies. With the help of the souls you can learn to shout, dragonshouts, much faster than normal. Other people spend their lives to learn what you can learn in a matter of minutes. Dragonshouts are the language of dragons."

She looked at Kodlak with a pleading face, he nodded and then turned to the others. "Could you please leave us?" They all took their leave, Vilkas was the last to walk through the door and when he turned around he saw Keilah leaning hear head into her hands.

He walked to Farkas room with the others.

"What do you think?" Aela was the first one to speak. They all looked at each other and Farkas finally answered.

"She is scared, she doesn't know what it means and I don't think she wants it. She not the type to seek glory or power."

"Then she is probably the best suited to be the Dragonborne, she will not use it in a wrongful way, to gain power or perks for herself." Skjor said.

Skjor had a point, Vilkas knew that, but he could only think of what this meant for any chances she would ever have to lead a normal life. He started to take of his armor, just to have something to do. Would he ever fit into her life? He knew that it was selfish of him, but that morning... they had come even closer to something. Aela seemed to know what he was thinking, she put her hand on his arm.

"She'll be fine, things will be crazy for a while, but she'll be fine Vilkas."

"I always thought a dragonborn would be a Nord." Farkas commented.

"Apparently not," Aela responded. "And she's, well, small. I have a hard time seeing her chasing dragons."

Vilkas froze. He hadn't even thought of that. The small girl, chasing after dragons! It would kill him.

"You haven't seen her fight yet. She's amazing, you should have seen her against a group of Draugrs, she took out quite a few of them without much of a problem." Farkas sounded almost proud when he said it.

Vilkas realized that he hadn't seen her fight either. The wolves and that one prisoner probably didn't do her justice. But he did have a hard time picturing her as a warrior. He actually preferred not to. This urge to protect her was strange to him, he didn't know where it came from. He had felt it earlier when she was running towards the dragon, but overcame it when he noticed that she was staying behind to fight it from a distance. He just wanted her safe and sound, away from anything dangerous. And now she was dragonborn, that didn't sound very safe to him.

Then they heard Kodlak screamed from his room: "Vilkas and Farkas, can you come here!"

When they walked into his room again Keilah was still in the chair, she leaned her head against the wall behind her with her eyes closed.

"Keilah will be going to the Graybeards and then continue to the College at Winterhold. She's supposed to go see the Graybeards herself but I want you two to follow her to Ivarstead."

"Of course harbinger." Farkas said.

"Of course" Vilkas found it hard to talk and he couldn't stop looking at her. Kodlak opened the door again: "Aela!" When Aela came to the door he talked to her quickly and then closed it again.

"Keilah, you can sleep in Aelas room tonight, you need some peace and quiet. You three will leave at dawn. Vilkas, can you take her to the room?"

Vilkas walked up to her and knelt down and put his hands on her knees. "Keilah, come with me."

She looked at him, gave him a weak smile and took his hand, he walked with her by his side, her small hand in his big and took her to Aela's room. He took her sword and put it on the table and helped her off with her armour. When she turned towards him he saw tears in her eyes.

"I'm not sure I can do this Vilkas, I'm not sure I'm cut out to save the world. I know I don't want this… whatever it is… power."

Vilkas thought of Skjors words. "Would you prefer that someone hungry for power had them, or you, a kind, intelligent and good woman?"

"At the moment I would pretty much prefer anyone but myself." She dried her eyes. "You think I'm a good woman?"

"I do." She leaned towards him and he took her in his arms, she still smelled wonderful, he pressed his nose towards her hair and inhaled deeply. That smell! He would walk through a roaring flame just to be able to smell it again.

"You need to sleep girl, me and Farkas will go with you tomorrow." He squeesed her tight a second time before he led her towards the bed. She didn't protest, and just lay down on the bed. Then he put the blanket on top of her.

"I could feel it Vilkas, and hear his scream, that powerful creature, that had lived for generations, I could feel its feelings when it died. I can still feel it, inside me. I know they are dragons, they destroy us and our cities, but it still hurts to feel exactly what it felt when it died."

It was hard to believe that this scared girl was the same that the girl who took out an entire nest of Bandits and that had, according to his brother at least, taken down draugrs without fear. But he could see how this was something different, probably since she didn't fully understood it.

"I'm sorry girl, I wish there was something I could do to make this easier for you."

"You are, just by listening to me."

* * *

><p>When Kodlak came in the next morning to wake her up she did feel a little better. Proper sleep and some distance to the raving dragonsoul made her feel a bit more in control.<p>

"Farkas and Vilkas are waiting for you outside. I had your locker moved in here so you can pack what you need." Kodlak stayed in the room while she packed the things she needed.

"I have a brother in Windhelm, there is at least one Companion in every bigger city here in Skyrim, I'm going to send out word about you. They will open their home for you whenever you need it and also tell you who else you can trust and where they are." She turned and looked at him.

"Thank you Kodlak, for everything, you are the kindest man I ever met. I will come back you know."

"Oh, I know, we'll be here for you. I'll have word with the Jarl as well. You will probably need to see him when you come back, but I'll explain the situation to him. Take care of yourself Keilah, and be careful. And let us know how you are doing."

"I will Kodlak, you take care as well." She hugged him hard, he kissed her forehead and then she walked outside, without turning around.

Vilkas and Farkas were waiting for her outside.

"You feeling better Rabbit?"

"Yes, thank you Farkas. So, you two ready?" And they took off.

As they were walking out of the town Farkas smiled at her.

"We have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?"

"Look over there."

Keilah turned her eyes in the direction he was pointing. There stood at beautiful, brown horse, with a white mule and hoofs and a black mane. She couldn't believe her eyes! It was a big sturdy horse, just like most horses in the north. It had the most beautiful black eyes with long lashes and they looked right into hers, she gave it a hug and kissed it. "You're beautiful!"

"Apparently, it is called Empress Vilda," Farkas couldn't say it without almost laughing, something he tried to hide with a cough.

"Well, that's mouthful, but Vilda is nice. You bought her for me?" She looked over at the two brothers who just stood there with proud smiles.

"Farkas mentioned that you were saving up to a horse. There's going to be quite great distances for you to travel, so you need one. But you need to promise us that you walk from time to time, to get the heat up."

"I promise." She couldn't take her eyes of the horse. On her back she had a saddle and saddle bags, a blanket, bed roll and pelts for sleeping on. "Can I get up on her, just to try, I promise I will walk with you later."

"It's your horse, try her out."

She got up on the horse and rode off. She had really missed riding, how free she felt when she did it. Like there was not a care in the world. The pressure of everything seemed to be left behind her, she didn't care what dragonborn meant at the moment, or that she was one. Then she did remember the two men she had left behind and turned around.

Vilkas spotted her when she came towards them, for the first time since the dragon died she looked like her old self again. She didn't look scared or worried, she had her feisty, teasing look again.

"It was really a good idea to get her a horse."

"Yes, like I said, she mentioned it yesterday, that she was saving up for one and that she wasn't looking forward to walk all the way to Windhelm."

The smile want from ear to ear as she got of the horse "She's amazing, and beautiful. Thank you, both of you. At least I won't be all alone."

"You're welcome Rabbit, take good care of her."

"I will."

As they started to walk towards Ivarstead Vilkas caught Keilah petting the horse when she thought no-one could see. She looked at it over and over again, ever time with a small smile on her lips. The horse was worth its weight in gold as far as Vilkas was concerned.

His head started to spin with the very same questions that had gone through his head the evening before, keeping him from his sleep. He had felt that they were getting somewhere. Not that anything had happened, but Farkas seemed very sure about how Keilah felt for him, and there had been moments when he was pretty sure about it as well. Like yesterday, when she showed him how vulnerable she felt. She had let him hug her and the feeling inside him when he was just thinking about it made him breathe harder.

But now she was dragonborne, and everything that would come with it. It didn't obligate you to do anything really, but Keilah would take it seriously, he was sure. He wouldn't like her if she didn't. She had college as well and he wasn't sure that there was room for him in her life. And would she want him? A woman like her, with the honor that followed being dragonborne, would he be of any interest to her?

"I've been thinking about something, I mean, you two seem to know more about this dragonborn – thing than I do." Great, just what he was trying to not think about!

"What?"

"You know, I didn't really kill the dragon, I mean, you did that, all of you, I was just nearby. Wouldn't I have to kill it to absorb the soul?"

"No, as long as it dies near you, that is enough. It isn't really something you earn as a price, it is something you are born to do."

"And what about these shouts, what are they?"

"It is the speech of dragons, you can speak to them in their own language and understand them. You will probably be able to breath fire or ice, shout in a way to make grown men fly. It is very powerful."

"And loud, I guess my dad was wrong after all."

"What do you mean?"

"He tried to teach me to scream when I was fighting, to intimidated my foes, I wasn't very good but it can be useful, it can at least surprise them. But he called my attempts 'silent shouts' and told me it mostly made me look ridiculous. So I stopped."

Farkas laughed out loud. "Silent shouts, well they won't be silent anymore. They are going to be fierce."

"Yes," Vilkas smiled "and they won't just intimidate people, they will hurt them."

As the darkness fell they found a good place to set up camp for the night.

They were all on their back on their sleeping rolls looking at the stars. Farkas on one side of the fire and Keilah and Vilkas on the other side. No exactly next to each other, but quite close, Keilahs hands were pinned at her chest in an attempt to try to keep herself from stretching out to touch him. Just to make sure he was still there.

"They are so beautiful" Keilah sighed as she watched the stars.

"Yes," Vilkas agreed.

"I just realized something, I don't even know how old you two are."

"28" Farkas answered her question.

"Which one of you is the oldest, do you know?"

"That would be me." Farkas said it with a voice that revealed that this was an important question.

"By five minutes!"

"Still counts!"

Keilah started to giggle and tuned around to look at Vilkas "So you're the baby brother?" The comment made Farkas laugh out loud.

"Yes, Vilkas, my lovely baby brother, he can be such a rascal!"

"Five minutes, I repeat, fiiiiive minutes."

"Still counts," Keilah decided to go with Farkas on this one. Just to see Vilkas face, "Little baby brother Vilkas, that's so sweet!"

This made Farkas laugh so hard that he started rolling back and forth on his bedroll. The laugh was contagious so Keilah started to laugh as well while watching Vilkas and noticed that the corners of his mouth started to twich.

When tears started wet her cheeks she laid down on her back again. It took a while for her and Farkas to come down. That's when she felt an arm around her waist and Vilkas warm breath hit her ear. "You are such a teese." He squeesed her gently and drew a deep breath on her neck, just below her ear and touch her jawline with his lips. She couldn't breathe, her heart was beating incredible fast and the sensation between her legs made her whimper as silently as possible. And then he was gone. She didn't even dare to look at him. It took her quite some time to fall asleep.

Vilkas had problem to fall asleep as well. More so than usuall. Her smell and the way he could hear her heart had accelerate when he was close to her mad his crotch pulsate. The quiet moan had almost made him groan loudly. He had never in his life wanted a woman more than he wanted her. The thought of holding her small body in his arms made him almost loose his. She had to come back, maybe he should have kissed her? The more he thought about it the more he was certain, Farkas was right, he was an idiot, he should have kissed her.

The next day they arrived to Ivarstead and they took her to the road that would take her up the mountan. Vilkas wasn't sure were to turn or what do, this was it.

"Come here Rabbit!" She flung herself into Farkas arms and he lifted her up and hugged her. "You take care now Rabbit!"

"I will."

"And remember to walk now and then, so you don't freeze to death on the horse. And keep your feet warm!"

"I will."

Then he let her down and the look she had on her face, with tears streaming down her cheeks, almost broke Vilkas heart. He walked up to her and dried the tears from her high cheekbones with his thumbs. And then he took her in his arms. He pulled down her hood and drew in her smell once more. Her arms were around him as well and he couldn't imagine how he would ever be able to let go.

"You better come back girl," he whispered to her, "I'm not done with you."

"Can you promise me that?"

"I promise. Be careful." She squeezed him tighter and then she let go. She got up on the horse and was gone.

Vilkas and Farkas stood there for quite some time and watched in the direction she had left.

"Tell me you at least kissed her."

"No"

"You're an idiot."

"I know."

"She'll be back." Then he hit Vilkas on the arm. "Come on. Let's head home."


	10. Chapter 10

_RavingSunshine & Fallon-Idalia: I's sorry, I usually hate to read stories like this, with tension that's enough to drive you crazy, it's kind of fun to write though ;) But don't worry, I'm not going to go all Dark Angel on you (you know 'Oh no, we can't kiss if we kiss you die'-thing)._

_Thank you again, all of you for reading, favs and alerts. I don't own Skyrim, in case you have missed it, it is Bethesda._

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><p>10<p>

Three weeks later Athis walked into his room.

"Come on!"

"What!"

"I'm fed up with this, what are you going to do, sit her until she comes back?"

"The thought has crossed my mind. Are you saying everyone knows exactly what's going on here?"

"Yes, we all live together, we drink a lot, so what do you expect? Everyone is pretty much up to speed with everything that's going on. You usually have your head too far up your ass to know stuff like that." Athis gave him a very rare smile and continued. "Seriously, come hunt with me, you need to get out. Besides, I can't stand Njada anymore."

Vilkas got out of his chair and took his bow and sword and followed Athis. He was right, he needed to get out. He had been sitting in his room most of the time. Even Farkas was starting to get tired of him and Athis was easy to be around when you were in a bad mood, he didn't talk much.

Six days later they had the first message from her. Vilkas did his very best to get more information from the courier, but he didn't know anything. He had received the message from another man close to Gallows Rock and when he stared to look scared, Kodlak told Vilkas to leave the boy alone.

The message just said that she had been to see the Graybeards, that she was safe and on her way to Winterhold. She was planning on visiting Kodlaks brother Kematu in Windhelm for a couple of days to catch up on her sleep. She also wrote that the horse was beautiful and brave. Kodlak gave him the letter to keep, he noted that her handwriting was beautiful and immediately felt ridiculous for even looking at thing like that. Farkas came up to him as he was standing looking at the letter.

"You've got it bad."

"What?"

"Just saying, don't think 'like' really covers it. Don't get me wrong, I envy you."

A couple of weeks after that he and Aela went to the Bannerd Mare to drink. Things were getting better, he was, sort of, back among the living, but he had a bad day. When he passed the sleeping quarters that morning he had caught her smell from something and that was pretty much all it took for him to have a bad day.

Aela had a huge fight with Skjor at midday, no one of the companions had missed the beginning of the fight, they had left for the courtyard somewhere during the middle and when Aela stormed out she had taken one look at Vilkas, pointed at him and said,

"You need a drink." Vilkas agreed, he needed a drink.

"You seem better. It's hard to tell though, you've always been kind of grumpy."

"Thanks." Vilkas just gave her a smirk.

"The smarts and strength wasn't all that got divided between you and Farkas. He's the cheerful and you're the broody one. That's probably why he's been luckier among the ladies."

"Probably." That was true. Farkas had always been the favorite of the two among women. He was always fun to be around and a real charmer when he wanted to. That was probably one of the reasons Vilkas had been so jealous of him and Keilah to begin with.

When they were in their teens, it had really bothered him. As he got older, not so much, even if they weren't as interested in him as they were in Farkas, he still had no problem with getting women. And he had been with women, but the way he felt for Keilah was something different.

"Are you ok? You and Skjor had quite the brawl."

"He's just being stubborn, being a man you know?"

"No, I don't."

"Oh, I bet you're like that too, overprotective and annoying."

"I don't think I am."

"We'll see when she gets back." Aela gave him a glare, "Do you know anything of how long she is going to be at the college?"

"No, I have no idea about how it works at all, as you know I never went to one. I don't even know anyone who did. What if it's for years? I mean..."

"Would you wait?"

"The way I fell now is that I would, but that's about as much as I can say."

"We'll probably know more soon. She'll write Vilkas, and she won't be away for years."

Things were slowly going back to the way it used to be before Keilah had arrived. They did their mission, trained, Vilkas spent a fair amount of time reading or drinking, usually with Farkas, Aela or Athis. Then the letter arrived.

Keilah had been through Windhelm once again and stayed with Kodlaks brother and he had sent her letter to them. In the letter was a message from Keilah, saying that she was on a mission for the College but that she thought she would be back in about a month, it didn't say how long she would be staying.

The problem wasn't her message, it was the letter from Kematu that was enclosed in the envelope. He said that Keilah was a wonderful woman and that he was very happy that she had come to see him twice. The entire city of Winhelm, and especially the women, was in great debt to her since she had managed to catch a serial killer who had murdered several women. And then it came, the exact words in the letter was imprinted in his mind since he had red them hundreds of times.

'Keilah is now quite known in Windhelm, she is the intelligent and kind woman who managed to catch the terrible butcher. I'm sure that her beauty (though she is very small, doesn't Bretons they feed their children!) is also a factor in the three marriage proposals she received on her last visit.'

Vilkas was furious, what was the stupid, arrogant, annoying girl doing? Is she throwing herself at other men? And why in Talos name was she out trying to catch a murderer? That was murdering women no less!

Aela, being the woman he knew best, became the target of his rage.

"Is she insane? What is wrong with her? No woman in her right mind would go after a murderer, they would get out of the city as soon as bloody possible!"

"Vilkas, you are being slightly overprotective now."

"I am not!"

"She is big girl." Vilkas was wondering if Aela had lost her sight.

"She is not big!"

"You know what I mean, besides, I don't think it's the catching a murderer thing that is really bothering you. Am I right?"

"No, you are not! She should not be chasing after men who are butchering women."

"Vilkas, you know as well as I do that she has been alone for two years and was doing fine. And she's dragonborne, she's going to chase dragons! I don't think one man will be able to stop her, even if he is killing women for fun. It's the marriage proposals who are bothering you, isn't it?"

Vilkas had to admit that Aela was right, the chasing murderers did however bother him, but considering Aelas words to Skjor about being overprotective he should probably leave that topic. And the thought of Keilah chasing after dragons… he preferred not to think about that at all, ever, if it was possible. For the moment however, it was the marriage proposals that were bothering him the most.

"Yes, that's what's bothering me." A beaten sigh came from Vilkas.

"You shouldn't jump to conclusions about it. You don't know what happened, she is quite pretty."

That just aggravated him even more.

"What would a woman have to do to have three marriage proposals in, what I assume would have had to be, a short time? She wasn't there for that long!"

"She did catch a killer Vilkas, probably one that had murdered many sisters and daughters."

"She killed a dragon here, and no one bloody asked to marry her here!"

"She didn't kill the dragon alone, and I'm sure some people would have asked her, she did help a lot of people here in other ways, but she seemed to have at least one, huge, overprotective twin with her most of the time when she's here." Aela smiled during the last part.

"She helped people here?"

"Sure, you really need to start to pay attention to things Vilkas. She did some smaller things, helped to deliver odds and ends. She found a mammoth tusk to Ysolde and she retrieved the Nettlebane to Danica at the temple, from a Hagraven." She smiled as she said the last part, in a very mocking way.

"She did what?" Vilkas couldn't believe it, the crazy girl was running after Hagravens as well!

"Vilkas, I don't think Keilah is the kind of girl who takes very kindly to being overprotected, at all! I think she could actually make my argument with Skjor look like a civilized dinner compared to what you would get if she heard you now. Just leave her be, she'll be fine. Back to the marriage thing…"

"I'm furious, that is pretty much all I can say right now."

"Just... wait till she gets her before you do anything rash."

"I can't really do anything rash, can I? She's not here!"

"I mean rash like, run off and ask some girl to marry you just to get even, or sleep with some girl to prove you don't need her."

Vilkas was stunned, "I'm not stupid."

"Men do stupid things all the time. They forget about a girl just because some slattern shows an interest in them. Men love to feel desired. Just promise me you wait till she gets back and find out what exactly that happened."

"I'll wait till she gets back, I won't do anything stupid."

Vilkas had every intention not to do anything stupid. But his intentions didn't help him with the fury and the beast inside of him that roared every time her face came to mind. And her face was on his mind quite a lot.

Farkas had been avoiding him for a while when he one night during a celebration came and sat down at his side. Vilkas wasn't really sure what they were celebrating, it was probably nothing of importance, someone had thought that they needed a reason to drink and came up with something fitting. That was usually how it was done. From what he understood it had been considered necessary to celebrate since more or less everyone had been in a foul mood lately.

Later that evening Farkas did come to sit with him.

"How are you doing Vilkas?"

"Do you remember when you said that you would be very angry with me if I hurt her?"

"Aye, I remember."

"Do you remember that I said it could be the other way around, that she could hurt me as well?"

"Aye, I remember you saying that."

"She hurt me."

"You don't know that."

"Did you hear what the letter said?"

"Aye, Aela told me. But still, you don't know what happened."

"I do, she has obviously been flaunting around."

"You're my brother, I love you, but if you suggest that she has behaved like a whore, I will punch you in the face. She is not that kind of girl, you know that too."

"I don't know anything anymore."

"Don't be an idiot. You've been stewing this in your head for weeks, it has become a much bigger thing than it need to be. You know, this is why I've been avoiding you. I know you've probably over processed this. Like you do with everything else. Damn, you probably did that the first day and know your mind running on its own. You know, it is possible to think things through too much. And you are doing it right now."

"Does everyone here know about this?"

"Probably, not much is a secret around here, you know that. But I'm pretty sure that everyone thinks you're reading too much into this. And that you're being an ass."

"Just leave me alone Farkas, if I'm such a burden." Farkas just hissed at him and left.

Even Kodlak had tried. And when talking to Vilkas hadn't worked he sent a letter to his brother trying to find out exactly what had happened. He was sure that there was some very easy explanation to the situation. But that would probably take some time. The letter had to arrive to Windhelm and another letter come back. It was very likely that Keilah would arrive before the answer would.

Vilkas was drinking heavily that night, and towards the end of the night he saw Njada coming towards him.

"Hi Vilkas," She said in a very soft voice. Njada hardly ever had a soft voice, and drunk as he was, he knew she was after something.

"What do you want?"

"Just talk, I feel very sorry for you, she shouldn't have done that to you. Lure you in and then leave you here. Just to go after other men."

"She had to leave Njada, you know that."

"Even so, she could have stayed faithful to you. I would have."

Vilkas just looked at her. Aela had warned him, quite some time ago, that Njada had her eyes on him. He hadn't taken it very seriously, especially since she wasn't very nice to him. He was also a bit surprised that he felt an urge to defend Keilah. If Njada hadn't been treating him well, she had been horrible to Keilah, the entire time. It hadn't really occurred too him until now that he might be the reason for that.

"Just leave it Njada, it is none of your business."

"I could easy your pain you now." Her eyes was glowing with lust and that bloody beast in Vilkas roared, he felt a need to just lift her up, carry her downstairs and take her, pound her harder and harder until he forgot those black eyes and instead saw this woman, who obviously wanted him.

At that moment Aelas words hit him, 'men do stupid things all the time, they love to feel desired' and he understood exactly what she meant. He had been very close to do something stupid.

"Just leave me alone Njada, I'm not interested."

Njada just glared at him, "You're an idiot, she's a midget breton who obviously don't give a shit about you. She's not worthy of you."

Vilkas was drunk and just couldn't stand Njada at the time, even if he was angry at Keilah at the time it didn't give Njada any right to badmouth her. "Are you saying you are?" He said with a sarcastic tone.

"I could be, if you gave me a chance." She all but pushed her breasts in his face. And all of a sudden, he wasn't tempted anymore. At all.

He just got up, went downstairs, and to bed. He wasn't sure how he would react when Keilah came back, or what would happened. But he was sure that Njada wasn't the solution to his problem.


	11. Chapter 11

_I just love you're reviews, all of them, last night when I was sitting on the bus reading them I had the biggest smile on my face, people probably thought I was crazy._

_I know that not everyone share my love for Aela, I just have a thing for strong women so that's how I portrayed her here, that great big sister-figure._

_I very much enjoyed shutting Njada down :)_

_I do not own Skyrim or its characters, Bethesda does._

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><p>11<p>

Keilah was extremely tired and very happy that she had Vilda. She had been a good follower and nice company on her travels. The Mage College had been everything that she had hoped for. And, it meant she had another room, a beautiful, big room no less. She loved it, her heart beat a little faster every time walked through the arch and into it. She had left quite a few things in there and had also, for the first time in her life, bought unnecessary things, just to make it more comfortable.

She had learned a lot, asked a lot and made two new friends. And some enemies as well, but nothing to serious. She had come to the conclusion that there was a Njada wherever you went and there was just nothing to do about that.

Vilkas never left her mind. She thought of him, a lot, his face, his smell, him whispering 'you're such a tease' and telling her that he wasn't done with her yet. Just the thought of those words made her shiver.

She had been to Windhelm twice, Kematu had reminded her of Kodlak, maybe not as wise, and more teasing than Kodlak, but with the same big heart. He had tried to get her to introduce herself to the Jarl the first time she went ther. When she found out who it was, she made up and excuse and that was it. It wasn't as easy the second time around, after she had caught the Butcher. Luckily Ulfric hadn't been there then and she had met his second in command instead.

She left Vilda in the Stable and talked to Skulvar, the owner of the stables. He was happy to see Vilda in good condition. They talked about her for a while and Keilah sang her praise. She deserved it, she was wild but not in a bad way, the horse had been a huge help to her, not just for carrying things, she had attacked anyone who tried to hurt Keilah and had done a good job defending her. Skulvar just smiled

"Aye, we train our horses to do that."

"So it's not uncommon here." Keilah was surprised, but realized that it was quite handy, maybe not in a big battle but when you were traveling alone.

"No, it's this race of horses, they are pretty wild by nature. It's better to try to make them use it in a good way rather than taming those parts of them."

She paid the man for Vildas rations and gave her a final pet and walked up to Jorrvaskr. As she entered into the main hall she heard a scream.

"Rabbit! Finally." And then Farkas came running up to her, picked her up and tossed her into the air. Just behind him was Aela and Skjor, both gave her hugs and kisses, and then finally Kodlak came up. With his smile and a hug and it felt like coming home, a strange feeling for her.

While they were all talking to her Athis and Ria came up the stairs, both gave her hugs, Athis slightly shorter than Rias, but Athis wasn't much for touching, she had figured that out quite soon. In many ways he reminded her of her new friend at the college, Brelyna, she was also a dunmer, and many of the things she had noticed about Athis had been explained when she got to know Brelyna better.

The one she really wanted to see wasn't there, and she didn't want to ask for him. She declined food or drinks, said that she only wanted to sleep.

"No problem lass, we will see you tomorrow, go and get some sleep." Kodlak just patted her on the arm and she went downstairs, fell onto her bed and was almost asleep before her head hit the pillow.

The morning after she went to the bath, put on some clean clothes and went up for breakfast. She met Njada in the stairs and greeted her but didn't get any response. 'Some things haven't changed apparently' was her only thought. She didn't really care.

When she got up she saw Vilkas at the table. She smiled at him but he only nodded to her. Her heart sank, that was it? That's all she would get? He didn't even give her a smile!

She sat down next to Farkas.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Ahh, Rabbit, ehrm, well, it could be that he is a bit upset with you."

"What, why? We haven't even met, and he seemed ok when I left."

"Well, when Kematu sent your letter he enclosed a letter of his own, mentioning you catching a murderer and, hrm... well... the marriage proposals."

"I declined them, I mean, it was a misunderstanding. There was nothing to it really. They asked, I said no. I don't understand." Now she was getting really pissed, he was angry at her because other people had asked her to marry them. That was so stupid! And why the hell did Kematu even mention that in the letter? He knew exactly how little that had meant to her. It had embarrassed her, but she hadn't been tempted at all, merely confused.

"You know what Rabbit, it is probably better if you talk to him yourself. I have really done my best to stay out of this, haven't really talked to him properly in weeks."

"Weeks? What's been going on here?"

"Ehrm... could you please, maybe just talk to him, I don't want to get in the middle of this." Farkas looked very uncomfortable, and Keilah didn't want to get him into any more trouble. She would just have to talk to Vilkas. When she looked over the table she noticed that he was gone, probably to his room.

"Might as well take the dragon by its tail and do this now."

"Please do, we're about to lock him up and throw away the key." Keilah looked at him curiously.

"It's been that bad, just for the marriage proposals?" That was so stupid, why would that even bother him?

"It was bad before that to be honest, he's been like a bear with a thorn in his paw since you left. Please take it easy with him Rabbit, no matter what he says, he has missed you awfully."

Keilah took that in, it was probably sadistic of her, but it really made her happy that he has missed her that bad. She walked down and headed directly to his room. She knocked at the door and when she didn't get an answer, she simply opened it and walked in.

"Haven't you learned that you are supposed to wait until the owner of the door asks you to enter?"

She was planning on taking it easy on him, just like Farkas had asked, she honestly was, but the comment and the look in his eyes made it quite hard.

"I didn't think you would."

"I wouldn't, as far as I'm concerned, you would have been left there waiting until the door fell of the hinges by itself."

And that comment threw her over the edge.

"What is wrong with you Vilkas? I didn't do anything wrong, I don't deserve this from you!" She had raised her voice slightly, out of sheer frustration.

"You didn't do anything wrong? I'm not saying you gave me any promises, but I stayed faithful to you. I missed you! I spent the first three weeks thinking of nothing but you! And what do you do? Three men propose to you, and Talos knows what you did at the college!" By the end of the sentence he was screaming his lungs out. So she responded in kind.

"I did nothing at the college, I worked! And as far as the marriage proposals, it was a complete misunderstanding, and there were two men and a woman, if you must know!"

"Misunderstanding? You call three marriage proposals a misunderstanding? Short of parading around naked, by mistake, I do not see how a mere misunderstanding can cause that."

"Are you calling me a whore you arrogant ass? Do you think I threw myself at them? Or even flirted with them, you of all people should know that my flirting isn't really my forte."

"How should I know? You might have been playing the innocent little girl to lure me in. Considering that you hardly had time to leave before a 'misunderstanding' made men, and women apparently, fall on their knees in front of you."

The volume of their argument was astonishing, Keilah couldn't remember ever screaming at anyone the way she was screaming at Vilkas right now. In fact, she couldn't remember ever being as angry at anyone as she was at him right now. Who was he to think he could talk to her in that way? She had done nothing wrong, but he had just assumed that she was some slut. She could just, just, punch him. She had never even been in love before and she was pretty damn sure that he was no virgin.

"You are impossible, damn it! I can't believe I was looking forward to come back to you, that I missed you, you worthless son of a bitch! You could have had a little fate in me and not just assume the worst! You, you, you sorry excuse of a man!"

"Oh, look who's talking, you man-eating, streetwalker of a women!"

"That is it! I am not taking any more crap from you, you ass!"

"So what are you going to do then? Just walk out of here? That's really going to help."

"I don't want to help this. I am going to Bretlins Pass."

"Why, what business could you possibly have there, unless you've hidden your suitors all around Whiterun to have at hand."

"What business I have there is none of _your_ business you cretin."

"Well get out of my face then you bitch!"

"I am!" And she was off. Her throat was throbbing from all the screaming, and she was so angry she was about to explode. When she turned around the corner out in the corridor she saw every person in the household sitting along the tables and benches. Farkas was sitting down, leaning his face in his palm, Kodlak just looked tired, Aela looked genuinely surprised but most of them just looked amused. She was too angry to care. She just turned to Kodalk and said in a very controlled, civil voice.

"I am sure that you are aware that I am going to Bretlins Pass, It will only take me a day. Two at the most." She didn't wait for his answer, just walked into the sleeping quarters to collect her equipment. She did hear Kodlaks orders though.

"Aela, go with her, she's so mad that she's lost focus. I don't want her to get hurt because she's not paying attention."

"Sure."

Keilah was out of the door in less than five minutes and Aela was right behind her.

"Come on Rabbit, wait for me."

"Not you too!"

"What?"

"Rabbit."

"Sorry, it's just… Farkas keeps calling you that, it sort of stuck. Hey, you want to talk about it? Not the nickname but your fight."

"There's really not that much too say, you heard the most of it."

"Listen, I know you probably don't want to hear anything in his defense..."

"You're right, I don't." Keilah cut her off, she really didn't.

"Well, I'm going to say it anyway. He missed you, the letter we got wasn't very, well. It didn't say much, just that three persons had proposed to you. And that you had caught a killer. It's been going around in his head for weeks. And also, the thought of you running around chasing murders almost drove him insane."

Keilah halted and turned around. "What? How is that even anything worth mentioning?"

"He worries about you, men tend to be very overprotective of women they are... interested in. Skjor is the same. We fight about it, a lot, but that's just a way for me to make sure he doesn't get the illusion that he has the right to tell me what to do."

"I can take care of myself you know. I've been alone for two years. I've been in battles since I was 16. I'm not a child."

"I know that, but think about it. He's just worried about you. Secretly I really like that Skjor worries about me, he's afraid I'll get hurt, or worse. Don't you dare say that too him. I will kill you if you do. But it's quite a nice feeling."

Keilah thought about what Aela had said. At the moment she found it very difficult to think about Vilkas in any positive way, but she could see her point. But Aeala wasn't finished.

"And I do have to say, I have some problems with seeing how three people proposed to you because they all misunderstood something."

"They didn't, I did, I would really prefer not to talk about that right now. It was very embarrassing. Can't we just leave conversation and talk about... pretty much anything else."

"Sure, just have to say. I am very impressed with you, you didn't budge for a second during the fight. I don't think anyone has ever given Vilkas a real fight like that before. And I have never hear him loose it like he did today. That's a very good thing."

"How can that be a good thing?"

"You're proving to him that he can't shove you around, that he doesn't intimidate you. It is very important. You did really good, better than I expected. I was very proud of you."

"You obviously know a lot more about this stuff than I do."

"You know, when someone can get you more upset than anyone else, It means something."

"It does?"

"That person is under your skin. They are special. You two drive each other crazy all the time. It's very fine line between love and hate in some ways. And sometimes you get mixed up between the two."

"I'm not sure I understand to be honest. But I sort of see the point."

"I'm just happy I got you to deal with, I am betting Kodlak sent Farkas to Vilkas, I don't envy him at all."

That made Keilah laugh, "Poor Farkas!"

"He can handle him, until you he was pretty much the only one who could, except maybe Kodlak."

"I don't think I handled anything, I just lost it."

"You'll get there. I think he just needed to get it out of him, he's been thinking about it for weeks. He'll be calmer by the time we get back." Aela just smiled, "So, really, what are we supposed to do at Bretlins Pass?"

Keilah took a look at Aela, she had proven to be a very good friend, in many ways. Her trust in Keilahs capabilities, looking out for her and just in generally being there for her when she wanted to talk to another woman. She was happy that Kodlak had sent Aela after her. Keilah had figured out pretty early that Kodlak usually knew exactly what he was doing, but he could still surprise her. It was easy to see why he had been chosen Harbinger.

Vilkas had never in his entire life been so angry. No woman had ever said such things to him, or even screamed at him, with the exception of Aela, and that didn't really count. And Keilah had just been standing there, looking him right in the eyes and screamed at him. Called him an 'arrogant ass' and 'pathetic excuse of a man'. How dared she? He was almost twice her size, and a werewolf! And she didn't budge, not one inch. Stupid bloody girl!

A knock on his door made him scream. "If you're coming here thinking you can scream at me again and get away with it, you've got another thing coming."

The door opened "She's not, it's me." Farkas looked through the door with an almost scared look at his face, his palms up to the sides, showing he meant no harm.

"Farkas, hi, not sure I'm in the mood for whatever you're here for."

"Just want to talk Vilkas."

Vilkas realized he actually was in the mood for that. "You should have heard the things she said to me!"

"Oh, I heard, we all did. These might be stonewalls, but you two can scream, I was quite impressed with both of you."

Vilkas blushed. He hadn't even thought of that. That everyone had heard. He was really tired of everyone knowing everything, sometimes a little bit of privacy would be nice.

"What do you think?"

"Wow, the smart brother asks me what I think. There's a first thing for everything obviously."

"Come on! I'm asking for your help here. You probably know her better than I do."

"I think you need to find out what she meant by 'misunderstanding', I think you also need to give her the benefit of a doubt because I _don't_ think she is a 'man-eating whore' who 'lured you in by playing an innocent girl'."

"Gods! I really did say those things to her?"

"Yes you did, not saying she didn't give as good as she got, but you did say those things. I warned you!"

"What?"

"I told you she was feisty, that it wouldn't be easy. And look at her, almost half you're size, screaming her lungs out at you. We were all very impressed. Didn't think any woman would ever dare to do that to you."

Vilkas had to laugh at that. Farkas was right. It had been very impressive, and he had been very surprised. He had imagined himself throwing accusations at her, and her begging his forgiveness with tears running down her cheeks. He couldn't have been more wrong. All he got was fierce black eyes staring right at him and clenched fists.

"I honestly never thought it would happen either."

"Admit it; you would have been a bit disappointed if she had just given in to you."

Vilkas thought that over and had to admit to himself that Farkas was right. He probably would have.

"Thank you Farkas, for daring to come in here to talk to me."

"Kodlak made me to be honest. Said I had to or you might tear your room apart and the just keep going through the rest of the house."

"No, I thought I'd bench drink actually."

"You can still do that. She won't be back for at least another day."

"Is she alone? I'm not sure she should be."

"Nah, Kodlak sent Aela with her, they are probably badmouthing men as we speak."

"Good, I wouldn't want her to be alone. Aela usually have good things to say." He finally sat down. "What do you think that misunderstanding could be?"

"No idea, probably something silly."

"You really don't think I have to be worried?"

"Brother, we have all been saying the entire time that you didn't have to worry."

"Njada didn't."

"Well, Njada probably didn't have your best in mind. And definitely not Keilahs."

"True, just wanted to point out that not everyone had been saying it."

"Please don't lash out at her when she comes back, try to be calm. You do realize that Aela is probably telling her to never give into you, and just keep screaming the way she did. That she did good."

"Yes, that sounds like Aela. Let's drink, If I'm hungover I won't have the energy to scream."

"Are you sure you are ok?"

"Honestly, I think I just needed to get it off my chest. Like you said, it's been spinning in my head for weeks and I needed her to get it out. Probably not the best way to do it."

"Probably not, she'll be back though. Maybe you should let her take charge this time. You didn't do too well."


	12. Chapter 12

_I'm sure you are all aware that Christmas is coming. Here in Sweden we celebrate on Christmas Eve, so I don't think I will be doing any updates tomorrow. I'm sorry about that. This is a bit longer than usual, to compensate._

_The comments to your reviews will be at the end of this chapter but a quick thank you to all of them in advance. Also thank you for the alerts and favs!_

_Merry Christmas to all of you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Skyrim or the characters._

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><p>12<p>

They came back to Jorrvaskr late in the evening the day after. The only time they hadn't talked was when they were sleeping or fighting. They hadn't really encountered any huge problems, just some bandits and wild animals.

"Are you sure about this Aela? He's probably asleep."

"That is not a bad thing, men are usually much calmer when you wake them up and talk with a soft voice. And he probably wants to talk to you too."

Keilah wasn't convinced but Aela obviously knew more about men than she did. So she took off her armor, washed up and brushed her hair in an attempt to gather her courage. She then realized she wouldn't get any braver than she was and walked to Vilkas room. She stood outside for quite some time, leaning her forehead on his door and then finally just opened it.

He was sleeping, there was candles burning so she could see him in bed, with one arm behind his head and the other over his stomach. She took in his bare, slightly hairy and very muscular chest and just glanced at the blanket over his hips. He was beautiful. She took a deep breath and walked over to him, put her hand on his shoulder and said: "Vilkas."

Vilkas had actually woken up the minute she was at his door, her smell gave her away, but he wasn't sure what she was doing there and wanted to let her make up her mind. He thought it was better if they took this at her speed. He had made a mess out of it so far and maybe she could fix it, if he just let her be in control for a while. And considering how long it took her to get inside, she needed time. When he felt her hand on his shoulder and heard her carefully say his name, he opened his eyes.

"Hi girl." She looked beautiful, her long thick hair was falling down her back and all she had on was her tunic and, he assumed, undergarment.

"I'm sorry Vilkas, I didn't mean those things I said. I was just so angry, and embarrassed, and..."

"It's ok," he stopped her, "I'm sorry too. It's just, I have been thinking about you, a lot, and then... I just couldn't stand that thought of someone else, trying to take you from me. And you chasing crazy men, and everything. I really am sorry. I shouldn't have doubted you."

He pulled her down against him and she placed herself next to him in bed, with her head on his arm and her arm on his chest. The feeling was sensational and he turned towards her so she wouldn't notice the effect she had on him. He put his other arm around her and inhaled her smell.

"I have really missed your smell."

She laughed softly, "My smell?"

"You smell like flowers in the sun, I have now idea how you do that."

She couldn't believe what he was saying, she could hardly believe that he knew what flowers in the sun smelled like. But she liked it. "That is beautiful Vilkas, thank you."

"You're welcome, you sort of deserved it considering the other things I said you." Then she could feel him pressing his nose against the top of her head again. He was so close to her, and the notion of how close they were, and how little clothes they were wearing, and his big, very muscular body against her sent a tingling sensation from her heart, down through her stomach and landed between her legs, and there it stayed. When he started to stroke her back she almost moaned out loudly.

"Would you like to tell me what the misunderstanding was?" She froze up, but he just kept stroking her back. "I won't get angry, I promise, and I won't scream. But I do want to know."

"It's just, really embarrassing."

"How so?" And then he started nuzzle his way down to her throat and put his mouth against it just under her ear and inhaled deeply again. She completely lost focus and this time she did moan loudly. She could feel the smile on his mouth against her throat. "You were going to tell me something".

Her reactions to him touching her was extremely satisfying, and he wouldn't want anything more than to just flip her over on her back and take her. But it was so amusing and very, very sexy to see and feel her shiver in his arms. And he did want to hear the story.

She cleared her throat in an attempt to gain focus. "On my way from the Graybeards I ran into some bandits, I killed them and looted them."

He kept stroking her back, very slowly, doing his very best to not think about her fighting bandits. Then he moved his hand up to her side, feeling her hips, moving the hand up over her waist, and then even higher and let his thumb stay just at the outline of her breast for a second before he stroked it down to her back again. He could feel her shivering and just kept kissing her neck and mumbled "Keep going."

"They had money and some jewelery that I kept."

She had now idea what she was talking about, the only thing she could think of was his mouth, that was kissing her neck and throat back and forth and his hand, that was moving in a circle, down her back, over her hip and waist and finally very close to her breast. Each circle put the hand a little bit closer to her nipple. And he did it so excruciatingly slow. She knew she was moaning out load now, but there was no way that she could avoid it, short from biting down in his neck.

"Keep going." She could hear the smile in his voice. Normally, she wouldn't like that he had the upper hand, but this painful pleasure made her yield unconditionally. And the next time his thumb was stroking her breast he was just next to her nipple. She was holding her breath for his entire following circle over her body, and hissed in disappointment when his hand never got to the nipple. She heard him laugh silently at her.

He enjoyed her disappointment, to him it meant that he was free to touch them and he really wanted to touch them, and Talos, taste them. To compensate her, he moved his hand further down over her over her behind and below the end of the tunic, and then under it. He was rewarded with another moan, and when she rolled her head back, he kissed her chin.

"You haven't finished your story yet."

Her moan changed it to something that was more like a groan and she threw her leg over his hip and pressed herself against him. He pushed his leg in between hers and could feel her wetness against his thigh. He was so hard that he physically ached for her.

"I'm still waiting."

"This is not fair."

"Still, I want the full story." He upped the ante and pressed his thigh against her ever time his hand went over her soft behind. He couldn't believe how good her skin felt. She probably didn't know it, but it took every ounce of his self-control to stop himself from taking it further.

"The second time I went to Windhelm I brought the jewelry, please Vilkas." her panting was very heavy he noticed.

The plead made him touch her lips with his, but only very lightly, he stayed very close to her mouth and said, "And...?" By now he had pretty much figured out what had happened, but he wanted to prolong this. She probably would never beg for his forgiveness, but he could make her beg for other things that would be more... satisfying for both of them.

Keilah could hear her own pulse inside her head. She had never felt anything like this, nothing even close to this. She hadn't even known feelings like this existed. Her entire body was screaming for him, aching, and with the combination of his hand moving on her body, just short of all the places were she wanted it and the thigh pressing against her, he was driving her mad.

"One of them was beautiful, and I put it on. The next day those people asked me to marry them."

"Why?"

"It was an amulet that showed that you were looking for marriage. Please Vilkas, you know this!" She moaned the last part of the sentence and once again pressed herself against them and this time he couldn't hold back, he moaned right into hear ear.

Keilah finally felt that she had the upper hand and smiled. She put her hands on his cheeks and looked into his eyes as the once again pulled him towards her with the help of the leg she had around his hip. She could feel him against her pelvis and knew he was as ready as her.

Vilkas could see in her eyes that she thought she had gained control. Truth was she pretty much had, but he was not going to let her be aware of it for long. He once again drew his hand alongside her back, but this time he didn't stop and instead continued down all the way over the arc of her back, her soft behind and in between her thighs and with a feather light touch slid his fingers along each of the edges of her undergarment.

Her eyes became wider before she closed them and gasped aloud. He kept looking at her, she was so beautiful, he could hardly believe that she was there, right next to him, her face so close and her hands on his face.

"So you were walking around with the Amulet of Mara on." He had no idea why that hadn't even crossed his mind, naturally she couldn't have known what that was or meant.

A deep breath and then she answered, her eyes still closed "Yes!"

"You must have been driving them wild, they must have thought it was the luckiest day of their life." This time around he drew his fingers right over her wetness and pushed on her sensitive spot.

She took another deep breath and whispered "Vilkas, please!"

That's when he kissed her, he licked her amazing, luscious lips and the second she opened her mouth, his tongue was in it. She tasted of sweet fruit, just as wonderful as he had imagined. He pushed her down on her back and laid himself in between her legs. Pressing himself against her.

Keilah could feel him between her legs and the feeling made her scream into his mouth. She put her arms around his neck to pull him even closer to her. Their tongues were tasting and circling around each other. She twisted her legs around him again and drew him closer. She could feel his hands under her tunic, he stopped kissing her and took it off.

Even through two sets of clothing Vilkas could feel how wet she was and it drove him crazy. He tore himself from her mouth and pulled of her tunic. He finally got a proper look at the breasts he and only seen the outline of that night by the lake. They were even better than he had imagined.

She could see his smile, "They are perfect." And when he bent down to take the left nipple in his mouth she cried out. It felt like lightning underneath her skin, traveling all over her body and right down to her crouch.

He was sucking and circling his tongue around one of her buds and his hand was pinching the other. The feeling was sensational to her. She didn't know were to turn or were to go. Without letting his mouth leave her breast he reached back and took her legs from behind his back, and when she understood that he was taking of his undergarment she shiver in anticipation he got up and pulled hers of as well. She helped him by arching her back and bending her knees one at a time.

'This is going to be the shortest intercourse in my life' he thought to himself. He wanted her so bad and he couldn't wait another second, but he didn't want to hurt her. When he pressed against her entrance and felt how wet and warm she was, he saw stars, he held back and just carefully pushed just past her edges. She moaned into his mouth and put her leg behind him and pulled him in down to the hilt.

She pushed her face against his throat and screamed. He was inside her, all of him and she hadn't been prepared for his size. Once he was in, he held still for a while to let her adjust to him, but she could feel him shaking. He put his arms underneath her shoulders and his hands cradled her face. He kissed her on her nose the and looked into her eyes, still shaking with a strained look on his face, but waiting for her. When she felt ready she moved against him. With a sigh, she saw him close his eyes and slowly withdrew from her and then pushed again. She once again closed her eyes and just lost herself in the amazing feeling.

He kept pushing and withdrawing slowly, and every time felt how her insides squeezed his member. He reached down in between their bodies and let his finger dance over her hot button. She once again screamed into his mouth pulled away.

"Vilkas! Oh please, don't stop!

He had no intention whatsoever to stop and soon he could feel her spasms around his penis. He moved his hand to the backside of her thigh just under her behind, and pulled her against him and stopped for a second to just feel her orgasm, in an attempt to stop himself from coming.

When the last wave of the orgasm had run through her body Keilah opened her eyes and looked at him, he was still holding her thigh and had his eyes on her face and a sweet smile on his lips. She reach up to for him and drew him in to kiss him. He started to move carefully again. She pulled and pushed with him now, harder and harder, and to make sure he wouldn't stop she placed her arm around his back and pull him towards her. The grip around her thigh got harder and he started to moan loudly. She felt another orgasm rolling over her. And when he screamed her name, they went over the edge together.

She lay beside him on his arm, with her back towards him. His other arm was around her waist. Vilkas leaned in and smelled her hair again.

"Are you sniffing on me again?"

"Yes, your smell is divine." He felt her body hop when she was giggling.

"That's a bit absurd you now, almost kinky."

"No it isn't" he hugged her tighter. "My sense of smell is very much higher than other humans. I could actually smell you coming this evening, when you were outside my door."

"You could?"

"Yes."

"Hang on, you weren't asleep?"

"No, I wasn't sure if you wanted to talk to me, so I let you take the first step."

She turned around so she was facing him. "You cheat!" and then she kissed him. He still hadn't been able to grasp the fact that she was there, in his arms and that she was so willing to kiss him.

"Can you tell me what you were doing at Bretlins pass now?"

"I went to find a staff, I need to change it against and amulet that I friend of mine wants back."

"What's your friends name?"

"Onmund."

"Do I need to worry?"

"Oh, jealous again, are we?"

"Maybe a little, seeing that you run around Bretlins pass for him."

"Does it feel like you need to worry?" She gave him a very lustful smile and he couldn't help to smile back at her.

"Well, I'm not convinced, who is this Onmund?"

"Another student at the college."

"Hmm..."

"His room is on the same floor as mine, he is Nord, with blue eyes and a very distinct chin."

"Hmmmmm..."

"Quite cute, did I mention that there are no doors to the rooms?"

He covered her mouth with his and started kissing her deeply, she spun him around on his back and amazingly enough he could feel himself getting hard, again. She kept kissing him and only paused to say.

"Still worried?"

Keilah looked Vilkas deep into his blue eyes, she loved those eyes, and carefully kissed him on the nose. She could see the laughter in them when he answered. "Does he often come into your room?"

"Oh yes, we talk a lot, he is very nice, he never makes me angry or scream at me."

She placed herself carefully on his member without taking him in, and rubbed carefully and sat up to let him see all of her. She could see him take all of her in, she very much enjoyd how much he seemed to be attracted to her. She was slightly embarrassed about how bold she was, bud he didn't seem to mind. And she did like to tease him.

"Quite the little gentleman then?" he said with a slight smile on the corners of his lips.

He placed his hands on her hips and his eyes were traveling up and down her body. When they fell on her face again she looked him deep in the eyes again and smiled.

"Very much so, such a gentleman. He's been very helpful and made sure that I felt welcome to the college."

Vilkas sat up, put his hands just underneath her butt and lifted her on top of him. She slid over him carefully, put her arms around his neck and kissed him while sliding up and down on him with a lustful moan.

"Still worried?"

With a very thick voice he responded, "Maybe not so much." and he kept kissing her. It was more frantic this time, she rode him up and down harder and harder, until he pushed her back and took over to even further increase the speed. Once again they screamed each other name when they came together.

"You really don't need to worry Vilkas."

"I am starting to realize that." He panted hard. She put her arm around him and squeezed him hard.

"Do I need to worry?"

"No, I think you're a witch. The last months all I have been able to see when I close my eyes are your eyes. And the shape of your breasts and nipples." It took her a while in her very tired state to understand what he just had said.

"When did you see that?" she almost scream and blushed.

"When we camped by the stream, the sun was setting behind you when you took off your armor and, let's just say your tunic wasn't as thick as it could have been." She hadn't event thought about that at the time. She had only been happy that there still was light. She did however understand why his voice had been slightly panicking when he asked her what she was doing.

"Vilkas, you looked!"

"Oh yes! I looked! They seemed very nice and they did live up to the fantasies." He was laughing!

"That's so embarrassing Vilkas!"

"Did I mention what they looked like when you came running out of the water?"

"You were fighting wolves when I ran out of the water. How could you even notice them then?"

"How do you think the wolf managed to take a bite of me? You completely distracted me, you're nipples were rock hard." He didn't seem to be able to stop laughing and she didn't know were to turn.

Finally she sat up and just looked at him with big eyes, then she hit him in the chest.

"You're a bad, bad man Vilkas!"

"Can you really blame me, you are stunning! And you're blushing, you are very cute when you are blushing, did you know that?" He pulled her down on him again and kissed her.

"I can't believe that you were ogling my breasts. I thought you hated me!"

"No I never did, I just thought you were in love with Farkas, and he in you, but that was of course a part of his plan."

"What?" She was stunned, again!

"He made me think that you two were in love, almost drove me insane. That night when he was carrying you downstairs I drank myself silly."

"He did what? You are _both_ bad, bad men!"

"Don't think too badly of him, he just wanted to push me into do something about it."

"When did he admit that?" She did have a feeling that she knew, but wanted to get in confirmed.

"The night when we came back, I went to talk to him, remember? I asked to talk to him in private?"

She was just lying next to him quite for a while.

"I'm not really sure if I should punch him or thank him."

"I know that feeling." He kissed her again, "At the moment I'm leaning towards thanking him, again. You need to sleep."

"I don't want to sleep, I want to just lie here and talk to you forever." She was tired, and sore, and very, very happy. And she wanted to keep him talking so she could listen to his voice.

"I'll be here tomorrow, and tomorrow night we can do all of this again. We can do that as many nights as you want." She hugged him tighter and smiled at the thought of all those nights they had ahead of them.

"I like the sound of that."

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><p><em>I really thought it was funny that some of you understood what had happened with the marriage proposals! Or at least had a hunch about it! RavingSunshine even mentioned it after chapter 10 (I only saw that after uploading ch 11 and I didn't want to comment on it until after this chapter. You are right. It is bit silly, but I kind of like it.)<em>

_Amara Wil Fren: Thank you, I'm quite fond of a lot of the Characters my self, and I'm having a lot of fun writing this. And writing the fight was a lot of fun. I wanted Vilkas to learn a lesson. I think it got through._

_Lyraine: Oh, isn't it a great combination! It's so much fun and I'm so happy that they have finally made a game were you don't have to choose between the two! Unfortunantely no new chapter for you tomorrow, but sleep tight!_

_Love to all of you and a very merry Christmas!_


	13. Chapter 13

_As I'm sure you have noticed, this story contains sex, it will do so in the future as well so if you find that offensive you might as well stop reading._

_I had some problems around this chapter and ended up moving loads of stuff around to get it to work, that meant this became a very long chapter but it doesn't sound like you would mind. It was either that or splitting it up into two short ones, and it didn't seem like a good idea since the flow made it feel like one chapter._

_This is such a mushy chapter that I'm almost embarrassed. But I thought I would give them a moment before throwing them into the abyss again :)_

_I'll comment on the reviews at the end of the chapter, I just don't want this to be the longest opening and also I doubt that everyone wants to read my comments on my lovely reviewers comments._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Skyrim or the characters in it, Bethesda does._

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><p>13<p>

Vilkas had never been able to come to term with how light the sleep was since he became a werewolf, he hated it. This was the first night when he was actually happy about it. He woke up several times, and every time his heart skipped a beat of joy to find her next to him in bed.

It felt like he couldn't get enough of just looking at her. Her fair skin, her soft complexion, those high cheekbones, the straight and wide nose, her dark eyebrows, the dark red mouth with the luscious lips. He kept touching her face, stroking her thick long, wavy, black hair that was spread all over her pillow and a couple of the times around her, almost hugging her.

He just lay there, looking at her, touching her and, more than a few times, kissed her. Every time he did she sighed and smiled in her sleep. She never woke up.

When the sound of the others in the house woke him up, he realized that it was morning. He turned around and looked at her again, and reached for her, kissing her neck. This time she did wake up.

"Hi there, you sleep very soundly."

"I know, I always do when I sleep in a bed. It's as if my brain had decided when I'm in bed, I'm safe. Probably not good at all." She reached for him ad drew herself closer to him and pressed her face against his chest. "How did you sleep?"

"I don't sleep very well, bud I did enjoy waking up this night."

"Did you now?" She looked up at him and smiled and he kissed her again.

"Yes, I've been watching you, quite a lot."

"That's almost a bit creepy you know, watching someone sleep."

Suddenly they heard a quick knock and the door flung open.

"Vilkas, they're back!" Farkas walked into the room and when he could see them in bed on the other side of the screen he looked at Keilah and his eyes went to Vilkas and a huge smile reached over his face. "I see you already know that."

"Yes Farkas, I have noticed."

"I'll just leave then." His huge grin didn't leave his face. "Nice to see you Rabbit." And he backed out of he room.

Vilkas looked down at Keilah and noticed she was blushing red. "That was so embarrassing."

"Don't worry about it."

"With you're amazing sense of smell, couldn't he smell that I was in here?"

"He's probably not as... familiar with you're smell as I am. Come on, let's get up."

"I'm not sure I want to get up, they'll all know."

Vilkas looked at her and laughed."I didn't know you were so prude" Then he got out of bed and tried to locate his clothes. He lit the candles in the room while searching.

She couldn't take her eyes of him, walking around in the room naked. He might not be as big as she had expected when she saw him in armor, but he wasn't a small man, and there wasn't an ounce of fat on his body, every muscle was clearly defined. He had hair on his chest that went down in a thinning line over his stomach ending up in his pubic hair. When his back was turned towards her she was looking at the muscles as he was searching for something kneeling in front of a chest and when he stood up and faced her she stared right at his... she blushed and looked up at his face and saw his smile. That made her blush even more.

She just looked down at the floor and got out of bed with a blanket wrapped around her. Suddenly he was standing right in front of her, the teasing smile still in is face.

"I don't believe thats fair, do you?"

"What?"

"That you get to look at me walking around naked and you cover yourself up with a blanket. " And the he pulled it of her, and looked at her.

"Well, you did say that you had been looking at me while I was sleeping." and she pulled the blanket back from his hands.

"Hmm, yes that is true." He leaned over and kissed her, "besides, I like it when you're looking at me, especially when you blush when a catch you doing it. Thats when I know you've been thinking dirty thoughts about me." He handed over her clothes and pulled up his pants and put on a tunic as well.

"I need to wash up Vilkas, and change my clothes."

"I'm sure you need a moment alone. I'll see you upstairs then, is that ok?" He kissed her on her nose and walked out.

When he had left the room, Keilah sat down on a chair and just smiled. She had to give it to Aela, she knew about men.

Vilkas got up to the main hall, took some food on a plate and sat down next to Farkas.

"I take it you are well this morning?" Farkas said in a very natural way.

"Yes, thank you Farkas, I am well."

Just then Aela come up the stairs, she also took a plate, filled it with food and sat down on Vilkas other side.

"Is she ok?" Vilkas was touch by how protective Aela was of the girl.

"Yes."

Farkas leaned forward, past Vilkas and smiled at Aela, "She looked fine to me, at bit blushed, but besides that fine."

Aela took a look at Vilkas, smiled and leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Be nice to her."

"I don't know why everyone is saying that to me, she put me through some ordeals as well you know."

"Oh Vilkas, we are telling her to be nice to you as well. I just fell a bit, protective of her. I like her, she deserves the best."

"Since that was a very discrete compliment of me as well, I will only say thank you."

"I am glad you noticed that Vilkas, I happened to think you deserve the best as well. I think that me and Farkas did a very good job in this case."

He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek back, "You did, thank you Aela."

Then he saw Keilah at the stairs, her hair braided and a fresh tunic and pants on. She also took some food and sat down next to Aela. Vilkas noticed that Njada was staring at her, throwing daggers with her eyes. This could get very nasty.

"So, Keilah, what are your plans for the day?" Aela smiled at her when she approach them.

"I'm going to make some potions, but that's pretty much it. I need to talk to Kodlak as well."

"Why don't you follow me out on a hunt."

"Really Aela, I think we have enough meat for the coming year." Farkas had overheard the conversation.

"Will you teach me to track if I come with you?" And the reaction from Farkas and Aela mad him surprised, they laughed out loud. Vilkas understood that he had obviously missed something.

"All ready told you girlie, that's not going to happened."

Keilah had thought it was worth a shot. If she kept asking Aela she might give in. But hunting did sound fun.

"I thought we would go night hunting, in the dark. I think you would like that. I'll see if Kodlak would like to come as well. He used to love it."

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><p>Vilkas and Keilah had spent the day together, he followed her around town and they talked, a lot. She liked to ask him about things, and she liked that he asked her. All of a sudden making potions didn't seem that necessary.<p>

"How long as Aela been with the companions?"

"She was quite young when she joined. She's five years older than me and Farkas and as far as I can recall we were about 10 when she joined."

"Is that why she acts like an older sister, she if very protective of you two."

"She's very protective of you as well, but yes, that's why. When we were about 13 and she was 18 we used to tease her a lot. She can really scold you, almost as good as you can." Vilkas smiled at her.

"You deserved it." Instead of answering her he just pulled her in and kissed her again. "Keep going." Her comment made him smile at her and when she realized why, she blushed.

"When we got older we understood she was very good at a lot of things, she taught us much, how to track, to use bow and arrows. She was the first companion who preferred bow to a sword. And she taught us about girls." This made Keilah slightly surprised, she couldn't imagine Aela teaching them how to bed women.

"Really? Why did she teach you about girls?"

"Respect, if we ever dared to talk about a girl in a disparaging way she went insane. She hates when men jump to conclusions about women just because their women. Just how to treat girls in general." That made more sense. And did explain a lot about both brothers. Aela had probably been beating in their heads that they should be sweet go girls.

"She said that you two had talked a lot while I was gone."

"Yes. I take it you talked a lot as well, when you were out trying to find the staff for your college boyfriend." He said the last part with a sarcastic tone. But his smile gave him away.

"Are you trying to make me convince you that you don't need to worry again?"

He pulled her into a corned behind a house and put his arms around her. "Yes, I feel very insecure about this Onmer." He kissed her carefully.

"Onmund!"

"Ah, the way you caress his name makes my heart break, are you sure I don't need to worry?" He pushed her against the corner in a wall close to them and lifted her up so her face was right opposite his and kissed her deeply. She put her legs around his waist and her arms around the neck and kissed him back, their tongues dancing.

She was killing him! VIlkas could hardly look at her without remembering her face during the past night. Moaning, filled to the brim with pleasure. And today she had completely caught him off guard and wore a dress! He had never seen her in a dress and the way it was tight around her waist and clung to her hips in a way that drove him crazy.

"Vilkas!" She panted between the kisses.

"Mmmm?"

"You need to stop!" He tore his mouth from hers and leaned his forehead towards hers. She was breathing heavily as well he noticed.

"I'm sorry, you're driving me crazy. Did you have to wear that dress?"

"I thought I would look nice for you, don't you like it?" She smiled and blinked with her eyelashes.

"You minx, you knew I would like it!"

"Soo, are you still worried?" He put her down on the ground.

"No, I'm not worried. At all!"

"By the way, it was Aela who told me you really liked women in dresses, something about swaying hips." She smiled at him and ran away along the street.

Aela! He should have known, he was slightly worried about what other tricks Aela had taught the girl.

Another thing that surprised him was how the townsfolk treated Keilah, she had been there for a little over a month and been away for longer than that. They all greeted her, talked to her, she even ran off whit some of the kids when they wanted to show her some berries they had found. She told them they were ok to eat but not much use for potions. They made her promise that she would take them out and show them some of the easiest herbs to find.

"Do you know everyone?"

"No, it's just that I have never stayed long in one place before, I've always had to make friends with people fast."

"You've helped a lot of people here."

She just shrugged her shoulders. Like it was nothing. He pushed her into another corner.

"Vilkas, I think we've already done this once today," she said with a smile while he was kissing her.

"I know, I thought it was so good it was worth a second time."

"You might be right."

"I really don't feel like hunting tonight, I have to admit."

"We would have to sleep when we come back though."

"True."

"And I honestly think that every hour could do some good." That comment made him freeze up. She wanted to wait?

"Why?"

"Well, I am quite sore to be honest." The comment took him by surprise as well, a lot of things about her seemed to do that. "I'm not as experienced as you, and you're.. quite... well..." She blushed again. He just smiled.

"I'm quite, what?"

"Well... you know, well equipped." He kissed her on the nose. He hadn't asked her if she was a virgin, he really didn't want to know of any other en, and he didn't want her to ask him about his, experiences as she so eloquently put it.

But he had noticed that she wasn't a virgin. It was still obvious she hadn't been with many men. The blushing gave that away, considering how up front she was with everything else. He adored it. It was also nice that it was at least one area were she at least felt a bit insecure.

"Night hunting then."

* * *

><p>It was her, Vilkas, Farkas, Aela, Skjor and Kodlak. They were walking really quietly and she was impressed with how four so big men could be so quite. And then she saw it, just at the water's edge and she whimpered.<p>

Aela turned around and said very quietly "What?" Keilah just pointed at the light by the stream.

"What?" Aela didn't get it.

"Nirnroot!"

Aela looked confused but Farkas just sighed, "No doubt it's some plant!"

"There's probably fishes in there as well. " Vilkas added.

Farkas nodded, "We might as well stop, she's not gonna give in when she has that look. Trust me."

"I'm sorry!" She did feel bad for interrupting the hunt, but that was a Nirnroot! She had kept her eyes open for them her entire time her in Skyrim but she had never seen one.

Aela just shrugged her shoulders, "No worries, we don't really need the meat to be honest. Just an excuse to get out. What do they do, that root I mean." She was talking with normal voice now. Keilah answered as she was walking out in the stream.

"They can be used to make poisons to damage health or stamina. But the reason its valuable is that you can use it to make invisibility potions."

"Is she always like this?" Skjor was turned towards Farkas and Vilkas.

"Yes." They both answered at the same time.

They were sitting on the bank watching Keilah walking through the water. The Nirnroot was wort the wet feet many times over.

When they were walking back to Whiterun they passed a meadow full of Luna Moths and Torchbugs. Keilah was looking at Vilkas with a pleading face,

"Ooooh no!" He laughed. She gave him her best pleading look.

"Please?" He just sighed and she knew she had won. Then she turned to Farkas, "Would you help too?"

He gave Vilkas a look "Only if he does it, I'm not going to be called glowing bug hunter alone this time."

That made Aela laugh out loud, "Oh, thats what you meant with the glowin-bugs comment. He helped Keilah to catch bugs when they were out for the shard." She laughed for a while and then she turned to Skjor, "You help them to babe."

"What?"

"Help them," she walked up to him really close and said, "please, I'll make it up to you." He just groaned and Keilah looked at her with huge interest. She was going to have to ask Aela a lot of questions.

Keilah helped them for just a short while and then she sat down next to Aela and Kodlak. Vilkas, Farkas and Skjor didn't even notice. They seemed to have to much fun running around trying to catch bugs or stopping the others from catching them.

"I have talked to the Jarl on your behalf, he still want's to see you, you should get up there tomorrow. He is very eager to meet you again."

"I might as well, I need to make potions so I'll talk to him then."

They sat silent for a while and just watched the men, Keilah did her very best not to laugh out loud since she didn't want them to notice that she wasn't helping them anymore.

"Keilah, do you remember when you were leaving and I had you locker brought to you so you could get your things?"

"Yes Kodlak."

"I couldn't help noticing that there where two big pouches marked Luna Moths and Torchbugs in you locker."

"Yes there was."

"You don't really need those bugs do you?"

"No I don't, but you did mention that you wanted to see Farkas chase bugs, and look at that." She waved her hand towards the other men.

Kodlak and Aela started to laugh loud, and very soon Keilah joined in.

Vilkas had a hunch that he had missed something when the three of them walked up to the three other people, who were just sitting down laughing while they looked at them.

"What did I miss?"

It was Kodlak who finally answered "Just Keilah, trying to amuse an old man. She did very well." Vilkas looked at Keilah with disbelief in his eyes, and she just smiled at him. That minx!

"You didn't!"

"I did, just paying back."

"For what?"

"Well it was the comment, what was it you said?" and with a very good imitation of Vilkas "I will not, under any circumstances chase any glowing bugs for you, EVER! And also, for oogling."

"Oh, I'm going to get you for that." And he lifted her up from the ground, and threw her over his sholder and carried her towards the water. He was going to make her pay.

"NO, Vilkas, don't, PLEASE, I'm sorry!"

"No you're not, but you will be!"

Keilah really didn't want to get thrown in the water.

"Please, I'm really really sorry!" She was just starting to dry up, but she couldn't stop laughing. Then Vilkas put her down in front of hem. Leaned of her with a very smug smile, and kissed her. She could feel her entire body responded to the kiss.

Kodlak got up from the ground. "Come on kids, lets head back."

Vilkas was till full of laughter when they got back. Keilah looked at him and giggled every time his eyes met hers. As long as Kodlak had been amused he was prepared to forgive her, if she asked him very nicely.

The others went to bed and he pulled Keilah towards the bath.

"Are we going towards the bath?"

"Yes."

"Why are you taking me there?" She tried to stop but he just lifted her up and carried her in to the room and locked the door.

"Well, I didn't get to throw you in the lake since you pleades so lovely, but I am going to give you a bath. Sit down."

He made sure she stayed on the chair while he filled the bath and then he walked over to her. Pulled her up and started to take of her armor and clothes. Her breathing was getting heavier with every part that he took of. When she was standing naked in front of him, he kissed her, and said, "Your turn."

The smile of pure lust that she gave him was enough to make him hard. She did take her time. Very slowly, when just his undergarment was left, she stood up, took a step back and looked at him. He just raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "I believe you forgot something."

She blushed but walked up to him again, took a deep breath and pulled them down, kneeling to get them all the way down. When she carefully looked up at him, with red cheeks, he adored her. She stood up in front of him again, took a step forward and with some hesitation, took him in her hand.

It was a minor miracle that he managed to stay standing, he pulled her towards him and put his nose in her hair and inhaled deeply. She still had her hand in between their bodies and kept stroking him up and down. 'She is a very quick learner' He thought and groaned loudly.

"Girl you're going to have to stop." She looked up at him with innocent eyes that were obviously fake, still stroking him. He reached down and took her hand and then he kissed her. "Come on, I have the bath ready."

He sat down in the bath and motioned to her to sit between his legs. She got in and leaned to his chest.

"I thought we should take it easy today, since you were sore."

"Hmm, I like this." He took some soap and started to rub it on her arms and her neck. She leaned forward and he washed her back. He took a small buck from the floor and poured water over her head a couple of times and then he washed her hair. When she leaned back again he started to wash her breasts, very thoroughly.

"I think they are cleane now, the turned her head and looked at him and he kissed her again. He just couldn't get enough of her mouth, of any part of her really, but her sweet taste was unlike anything he had ever tasted. It drove him mad.

"Can't be too sure" he mumbled and took her tongue in his mouth again. He slowly moved his hand down her stomach and then, even slower, against her thighs. She moaned into his mouth, the sound that drove him insane and he slid his hand towards her center, carefully pressing his finger towards her sensitive bud, make small, circular motions. She kept moaning and he kept swallowing her moans while kissing her. He held his other arm around her chest with the hand on her breast carefully circling his thumb around her nipple.

He slid a finger inside her and her response made him chuckle. He loved to see her like this, completely melted into his arms. He kept moving his hand and alternating his attention between her clit and sliding one, and then two finger inside her. She started to move her hips towards his hand, meeting his fingers and her moans go loader. Then she broke free of his mout, groand loudly and he could feel her insides cramping around his fingers.

Completely realxed she was laying in his arms.

Keilah turned around and sat on her knees. She gathered her courage and looked him straight into his eyes.

"I think it's your turn now."

"Really?" He looked amused and she tried to smile at him.

"Mhmm." She took the soap "You might need to guide me though." She felt very uncertain about this. Her earlier experiences had been nothing like this. The had been quick and quite frankly not very satisfying at all. This morning was the first time she had even seen a mans penis. When she had plucked up the courage to touch him after undressing him, his response had made her feel very much in control. She liked it. And she wanted to try again, to give him as much pleasure as he had given her.

She took the soap and started to wash him as well, his hair, shoulders and over his chest. She moved down to his calves and up over the thighs and then she took it in her hand and very carefully started to stroke it. She leaned over to him and kissed him, pressing her breasts against chest. She kissed his jawline and moved down towards his chest. His reaction when she put her mouth over his nipples made her smile. She was very amused to realize that apparently this was nice for men as well.

"Move the hand faster Keilah." He groaned, and she did, while still licking and sucking on his nipples. His panting got quicker and she sat up again to look at his face. His head was leaned back, his eyes closed and his mouth slightly open. She leaned forward and kissed him just beneath his earlobe. His breathing got even more frantic and he held her on the back of her neck, and groaned into her ear.

"By Talos, do not stop." She put her free hand on his nipple and while moving her other hand even faster, she pinched it. She felt him getting even larger and with roar, he screamed her name and she could feel him releasing with pulsing motions into her hand.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. "You don't need any guidance. Lets get out of this water. I'll rinse you."

* * *

><p>Later they were lying in bed, she was on his arm again with her back against his chest and stomach. Vilkas was kissing her gently one her shoulder and neck taking deep breaths to catch her smell.<p>

"How long will you be staying?"

"Another three weeks." She said with a sigh. Vilkas closed his eyes and pressed his mouth against her harder.

"How long will you be away?" He had known she would leave, but I didn't make it any easier to hear.

"About two months." She was stroking his lower arm with her hand.

There was really no point in talking about it anymore. As long as she would be coming back to him, he would have to live with it. He inhaled deeply, and then remembered something he had always wondered, but never asked.

"Why were you in Helgen?" He could feel her body stiffening and was surprised. He hadn't really thought there was anything to it, but had been curious, just as he was curious about everything about her.

"Kodlak never told you?"

"No."

"I was being executed." This time it was Vilkas who froze up. Trying to process what she had just told him. He leaned over to see her face.

"Executed?"

"Yes."

He was manically trying to get his brain to function, it wasn't so much that she was sentenced to execution, if Kodlak knew and wasn't bothered, that was enough to Vilkas. But she had been sentenced to death.

"What happened?"

"The dragon came. I made a run for it."

He still couldn't get it through his mind. She could have died, before he even met her!

"How... how close was it?"

He could feel her shivering and then press herself closer to him.

"When my chin was on the block I saw the dragon. The executioner was just about to strike when the dragon attacked." Vilkas closed his eyes, when he opened them the saw her head turned, looking at him. "What are you thinking?"

He was dumbfounded, just looking at her, and then he turned her around against him and kissed her.

"I'm thinking you could have never come here, that you could have died. I just... I can't even think about it."

"I didn't die." She smiled.

"Thank the gods for that. What happened, how did you end up there?"

"When I crossed the border, I met some people in a camp, I traded with them and they offered me a place to stay for the night. I hadn't slept properly in quite a while, so I took the opportunity. It turned out they were stormcloaks and the Imperials came the morning after. Since I was there they assumed that I was a stormcloak as well."

He just held her against him, she had been so close! It scared him, just realizing that... she could have died.

"You know I'm a bit surpriced with you."

"How so?"

"I didn't think you'd be so..."

"So what?"

"I don't know, sweet. You were always so broody, and, I don't know."

He knew he usually was. But just beging around her, like this, made him... calm, and happy.

"Good."

"Good?"

"I like that you think I'm sweet." He hugged her tighter. "You need to sleep."

"Talk to me."

"About what?"

"Anything, I just want to hear your voice." He laughed at that.

"My voice?"

"I like it."

"And you're mocking me for smelling at you." But he reached back to get a book he had next to the bed. "I'll reed you something. It's a poem."

She moved even closer to him and he put the book in the hand of the arm she had her head on so he could see, still holding her close with the arm around her waist.

"Most of my sweet memories were buried in the sand. The fire and the pain will now be coming to and end. How did you get to save me from this desolate wasteland. In your eyes I see the dawn of brighter days again.

With my tears you washed aways the mud stuck on my hands. All the thing you're trying to do make me a better man. Now I remember the joy and the meaning of fate. The color of the truth and the sound of sunny days."

He could feel that she was already sleeping and closed the book to try to sleep himself.

* * *

><p><em>The poem isn't a poem, it is a song by the brilliant <strong>Woodkid<strong>, it's called 'Wasteland', I just took parts of it and I really hope no-one is suing me for it, I just want more people to discover him and his lovely music. Woodkid also did the awesome song 'Iron' to the 'Assassins Creed: Revelations' trailer._

_Hope you liked this chapter as well, your lovely reviews are making me a very happy woman!_

_RavingSunshine: No, that wasn't the end, not at all, I pretty much have the full plot done (short of good an ending but I'm sure that will come eventually) and am writing on chapter 18 without even being close to the, not finished, end. I just like to be a few chapters ahead since I quite often go back to change things in the earlier chapters. I hope you have a great day with great gifts today and a turkey as nice as mine was :)_

_Lorrain: Like I said in the above comment, not the end:) so no worries. My husband commented on our Christmas meal yesterday and said it was like a Polish one since there was no red meat (I don't really like red meat but we did have turkey, don't know if you have birds). I though it was kind of funny. I hope your dinner was nice as well and that you got lovely presents._

_Lyraine: I'm glad you liked it, I hope this chapter wasn't too sweet and to much after the sweet previous chapter. Thank you and I hope you had a nice christmas as well (You celebrate on the 24th as well if I remember correctly, Heiligabend? I'm trying to learn german since my favorite city to travel to is Berlin. I'm not doing that well though.)_

_Fallon-Idalia: Your stories has made me realize that I HAVE TO play the thieves guild quest, so that might get me some new ideas! I just need to pull myself from the computer to play some more. That could probably help me with the ending of this story as well. Oh, and congratulations to the marriage! ;) Have a great day and I hope you get what you hoped for and some snow!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Thank you all, again! Another, sort of, filler chapter. But this time we follow Keilah instead of Vilkas._

_Comments at the end and as usual; I do not own Skryim or its characters, Bethesda does._

* * *

><p>14<p>

Keilah arrived in Winterhold and the college in the early afternoon. She had missed her room, she loved the Arcanaeum and she loved the classes. But she was going to miss the Companions. And she was definitely going to miss Vilkas.

They had talked all night the last night. And of course had sex. She still blushed when she thought about it. She hadn't really been prepared for the feelings that he was able to lure out of her. How he could maker her wet just by looking at her. He had never asked her about her experiences before him. She knew it was very obvious to him that they weren't many. Just as it was very obvious to her that he was very experienced. It was hard for her to be bothered by it since it meant that he knew exactly what he was doing and tended to make her beg for more every time. The begging always paid off, she came so hard that she screamed more than once, often more than once a night.

He told her that there was no need to blush, that her screaming his name was the sexiest thing he could think of. She could understand that, his moaning in her ear when he came, mumbling her name when she touched him, made her both proud and aroused. The first time he gave her pleasure with his mouth she couldn't believe it was true. And again she thought that the spasm in her body would never stop.

She loved that that he was so carefree about sex, she could ask him anything about it, and her taking the initiative was something that thrilled him. She had asked him why and told him that were she was from women wasn't supposed to and she did feel embarrassed about it. He had explained that it was not a big thing in the Nord. Women were expected to enjoy sex as much as men, and that he liked her initiating sex since that made it clear to him that she liked it. As if he could doubt it.

She walked into her room and lit some candles.

"Hi Keilah!" It was Onmund, just seeing him made her blush since he was alone responsible for quite a few orgasms, any time Vilkas mentioned her 'boyfriend' she knew he just wanted to get into her pants.

"Oh, hi Onmund, I think I might have solved you're problem."

"Really? Thank you! Did everything go well with Vilkas?" That made her blush again.

"Yes."

"Ahhh, you're blushing, that is a good sign!"

She had told Onmund about Vilkas, he had caught her in her room one day with tears in her eyes and she had just told him everything about the Companions, Dragonborn and Vilkas. She had sworn him secrecy about the last two. She wasn't comfortable with people knowing that she is dragonborn, and as far as Vilkas goes... it was something she wanted to keep to herself. The fact that she was dragonborn had unfortunately been revealed anyway.

"I'm going to go find Enthir and get that amulet for you."

"Thank you Keilah, this really means a lot to me. I could have gone after his staff myself you know."

"I know, but I was going to Whiterun anyway and Bretlins Pass is in the area."

"Still, I really appreciate it. And don't think that you're going to be able to avoid talking about Vilkas you know."

She just smiled and walked off. On her way up the stairs to Enthirs room she met Brelyna, a Dunmer who had started the college about the same time as Keilah. Keilah liked her and Brelyna liked that Keilah didn't ask her about her race.

"You're back little one! It has been very silent here with you gone. I will come to you're room tonight, We can share a bottle of wine and you will tell me all about what happened."

"That sounds nice, I'll see you later."

She found Enthir and they made the trade. In a fit of anger against his family Onmund hat traded the amulet for something completely useless, just to get rid of it. He had changed his mind but Enthir had refused to trade back. Keilah had managed to find a soft spot of his, he had lost a staff that meant much to him and she had promised to find it in exchange for Onmunds amulet.

When she came down the stairs she gave Onmer his amulet.

"Here it is Onmund, now please, even if you thing you don't like your family some day again, don't trade this away."

"I promise Keilah, I won't! I'm not stupid enough to do that mistake twice."

"I met Brelyna on my way upstairs, she's coming to my room later with a bottle of wine, for some gossip, please join us."

"I will. Were are you going now?"

"I need to find Tolfdir and then I'm going to the Arcanaeum."

"You never get enough of those books, do you? I'll see you tonight!"

She went up the Arcanaeum to leave a book to Urag, the librarian. It was true what Ornmund had said. She did spend a lot of time the the college library. Urag was probably the person she had spent most time with. It actually wasn't just that she liked books, or even that their were lifetimes of knowledge in between those walls. That last night in Whiterun, when she had found out she was a Dragonborn, she had talked to Kodlak and he had asked for her help.

He asked her to search for the cure in The Arcanaeum in the College of Winterhold. He had felt egoistic he said, to ask her search for him, but he had hit a wall in his own search and since she was going he saw no better opportunity to gain access to the famous library. She was more than happy to help. But he had asked her to keep it a secret, he didn't want anyone else of the Companions to find out. So no one did.

"Ah, Keilah, my favorite student, it is nice to see you back! I trust your journey have treated you well." Flashes of Vilkas smile, his moan and and pure pleasure went through her head and she shook it. 'This is ridiculous, how long will this keep happening?'

"Very well, thank you Urag. I hope you have been well too."

"Yes. I have good news for you as well. I manage to find that book for you, about witches."

"Oh, thank you! That is very kind."

"No problem at all. Just treat it well."

The first time she had went to the Arcanaeum the conversation had not been that pleasant. But she had proven herself a true lover of books, she treated them with care and slowly Urag warmed to her. Finding a book that had gone missing had sealed the deal. She was now welcome to all books and he was eager to help her if there was something she was missing.

He handed her the book and she went to get a few of the others she new she might need. Then she sat down to study. She wanted to find a cure. Not just for Kodlak but for Vilkas as well, they hadn't talked about it, but she knew he wanted it. As far as she was concerned, it didn't matter to, but they were worried and she wanted Vilkas to be happy.

A few hours later she got up from the table, she put back some of the books and showed the others to Urag.

"Can I borrow these?"

"Of course, just let me write it down."

She went down to her room, there wasn't much food there since she just got back and she walked over to Onmunds room.

"Do you have anything to eat for us. I haven't had time to buy anything and the dining room is probably already closed."

"Sure, I'll bring something."

Just then Brelyna came walking with not one, but two bottles of wine and they met up at her room. Onmund also brought two bottles and Keilah laughed.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?"

"Yes, Onmund said you were very unwilling to say anything about Vilkas so we thought that getting you dunk might get you to give us the naughty details." Again Keilah blushed.

"I can't believe you're blushing! I've seen you handle men saying the dirtiest things to you, like J'zargo, and you didn't even blink." Onmund sat down and poured her a cup and handed it over to her.

"I know, he makes me blush the entire time, apparently he doesn't even have to be in the same city as me to make me blush!"

"Soooo, tell us what happened, was it loving welcome when you arrived?" Brelyna gave her one of her rare smiles.

"No, we had the biggest fight, I have never screamed at anyone like that."

"Why?" Brelyna looked at her with big eyes.

"He had heard about those marriage proposals."

Onmuns started to laugh, "Oh that was so funny. Why was he angry about that?"

"I don't know really, he thought I had done something to make them ask me, honestly he wasn't very clear. He mostly screamed."

"Oh, I see he thought you had been a slut?" Brelyna was always very straight forward.

"Something like that."

"But you did explain?" Once again Keilah blushed when she thought about the time she had explained.

"Eh, yes." She swallowed some wine trying to hide her face.

"It's not like he can be mad at you, you just didn't understand the Skyrim culture. Honestly Ornmun, it is very silly, you slap a necklace on and thats like a sign that you are desperate and would be willing to marry pretty much anyone that asks, it is very strange."

"It's not my fault!"

"It is your culture." Keilah pointed out, happy to leave the subject of how Vilkas found out the details of her misunderstanding.

"So, you did make friends again, you wouldn't be blushing like that if you hadn't." Onmund tried to get her back on track.

"We did."

"And you are still friends?"

"Yes."

"You are really terrible at telling stories." Onmund sighed.

"I know, Skjor said the same thing."

"Skjor, thats Aelas man, isn't it" Brelyna had heard about all the Companions, she found them fascinating, probably because they had let a dunmer into their ranks.

"Yes"

"Was it good, 'making friends'?" Onmund was obviously tired of her not getting to the point and wanted the dirty details.

"Don't be silly, of course it was, do you think she would have blushed like that if it wasn't the case."

They kept talking till late at night, late enough for some of the other apprentices to get annoyed by their laughter since they were trying to sleep. When she was trying to go to sleep she realized that in less than six months she had made more friends than she's had her entire life previous to that. It was quite a nice feeling.

As she was on he way to her class with Tolfdirs the next morning, she met J'zargo. She didn't like him, he was very competitive and rude. Despite that he seemed to think that she adored him and did his very best to get her into bed.

"Isn't that the lovely behind of my favorite Breton I see?"

"What do you want J'zargo?"

"Ah, but you see it is more what you want, can you even imagine the things I could do to you if you would just let me. You know this tail is not only for show, it can give you great pleasure in bed."

"Back off."

"You are breaking my heart little one." But he did walk away.

She very quickly got into the routines at the school. The classes, Arcanaeum, diners with the others and the evenings in her, Onmunds or Brelynas room. The three of them often went out to find herbs as well since they all made potions, there wasn't much point in selling them in Winterhold since the town was flooded in potions, all students were making them, but she could always sell them later. She missed Vilkas, she thought of him a lot and sent him messages, and did get two back, they were all doing fine they said. He did miss her though and she liked to hear that. At least that's what she think her wrote, his handwriting was horrible. Suddenly a month had passed and she knew that in just another one she would be back with him.

One night the entire class were going to meet at Saarthal to join an exploration of the ruins. Obviously Keilah did it again, she touch something she shouldn't have and was trapped.

"Gods be damned, do I never learn? This is bloody ridiculous!" She scolded herself loudly.

"What did you do Keilah!" It was Tolfdir, just outside the door that had just closed behind her.

"I picked up an amulet!"

She finally managed to get out, but naturally, Tolfdir wanted to explore further since she had found a new path. 'At least no-one turned into something unexpected this time' she thought to herself.

In the last room along the path, there was a huge glowing orb and a Draugur. The Draugur was almost impossible to kill. It didn't matter what spell she threw at him or how much or hard she hit him with her blade. Nothing seemed to happened. She was starting to get tired and she didn't have a huge amout of potions with her since she had expected to dust of dusty things for the entire night. An encounter with an indestructible Draugur had not been on her mind. Not even a shout made any difference, it did flew away but just got up and walked towards her again. Thats when Tolfdir suddenly ran past her and towards the orb.

"What are you doing? I need you're help here!" Was he bloody serious?

"Just keep it up!"

"Ah thanks for the advice, I just about to take a break." She was getting very annoyed, both from this relentless enemy and her master who left her with it.

And then he ran up the the globe and started to cast spells on it. 'Is he insane, how would that possible going to help' and that was the first time the draugur reacted to one of her attacks.

It took her a while but she finally managed to kill it, or at least make it more dead. It was hard to tell with darugurs.

She walked up to Tolfdir "Thank you, I almost thought you had lost it there."

"It was drawing energy from this orb. I can't even imagine what this is."

"No idea, I've never seen anything like it."

"You need to go back to the college and send some of the masters here. We need to take a closer look at this object."

"Are you sure you're going to be ok here?"

"I'll be fine, run and get them for me." She shruged her shoulders and was off. She couldn't care less about that orb but Tolfdir was obviously fascinated by it so she might as well do what he told her.

The master took the orb back to the college in an attempt to find out what it was and what it could do. While most of the people from the school was standing around watching it a courier came walking in.

"I am looking for a Keilah!" That took her by surprise, she'd received a letter from Vilkas not two days ago, it had made her blush even though he was very discrete in it if she had interpreted his handwriting that is. Brelyna had laughed at her for hours.

"That is me."

"It is an urgent message, I was instructed to ask you to read it at once."

"I will." She opened it, she noticed immediately that it wasn't Vilkas handwriting, it was Kodlaks and the message was disturbingly short.

'Please come home at once, Aela needs you. Kodlak" It was all it said and she panicked. Onmund noticed her distress and took her to the side.

"What is wrong Keilah?"

"I don't know, it just says that Aela needs me." Then it hit her. "It must be something with Skjor, I can't imagine anything else. I need to get back immediately."

"Keilah, you are in no shape to travel alone."

"I must get back, she needs me, she has been a good friend to me, I need to be with her!"

"I am not questioning that Keilah, but you can't go by yourself. I will come with you. The masters will be busy with this orb anyway, I'm sure they would just be happy to get rid of us."

"Thank you Onmund. I need to talk to Tolfdir as well. Can you please talk to Brelyna and tell her that we are leaving."

"Of course, I will meet you outside by the stables as soon as possible."

When she came out she was surprised to see both Brelyna and Onmund waiting for her.

"I'm not about to leave you in just his clumsy hands. I'll accompany you as well."

She looked at them both with big eyes. "I don't know what to say, Thank you, both of you."

"Well, that is what friends are for you know. You shouldn't be alone right now and, well, frankly we both thought we could use a break from school." Onmund was probably right.

"Speak for yourself, I just want to see this Vilkas who can make this girl blush worse than a virgin at a brothel."

* * *

><p><em>It is nice to hear that you didn't feel the need to have shot of insulin after the sugary last chapter :)<em>

_Fallon-Idalia: So far I like the quest, I haven't gotten very far though but I think I have some ideas already, I kind of like that it's not exactly morally ok:) _

_I felt that it would get boring if she was just with the Companions, something that would change the pace, it's nice to hear that it is appreciated and noticed. And yes, I would like to see three warriors chasing bugs myself, it would be something._

_Lyraine: Hahaha, it's nice to hear that I'm not the only one giggling about the glowing bugs and yes, sometimes you need to catch your breath in the midst of all drama! German and swedish are actually quite close, bot in words and grammar! And, more Woodkid to the people!_

_Lorrain: I kind of like the emotional side of him as well :) And I wanted to get through that ecstatic feeling one usually have in the beginning of a relationship, it would be strange to leave it out._


	15. Chapter 15

_Once again, a huge thank you for all favs and alerts, I'm amazed that they keep coming to my mailbox every day._

_RavingSunshine: Onmund is not a former lover, geez, would that bring Vilkas over the edge though :) __ He is a student at the college and he is in the game, as well as Brelyna and all the others mentioned. Onmund is the guy that Vilkas has been teasing Keilah about, and she him as well. So she was a bit embarrassed when she met him. He is just a friend.__ There will be fights though! They are both stubborn and feisty so don't worry._

_I realize that I tend to write as if everyone has played these quests, I'm sorry about that and I'll try to think about it._

_As always: I do not own Skyrim or the characters_

* * *

><p>15<p>

Vilkas was sitting at a bench in the corridor on the lower floor. Farkas was sitting next to him. Aela had been in her room since she came back. She had been with Skjor to attack a fort full of silver hands. They got separated during the attack hand she had found Skjor dead. She came back in a state he had never thought he would see her, completely broken. She had hid Skjors body in the woods and he and Farkas had gone to collect him. When they came back Aela was in her room and she hadn't left it since.

Aela had been like and older sister to him and Farkas, she had always been by their side, she didn't mind giving them a hard time when she thought they deserved it, but no matter what the situation was, she had been strong. Stronger than anyone he knew, and now she wasn't and Vilkas had no idea how to handle it. It made him feel useless, that he couldn't help someone that had always been there for him. But she wasn't reacting to anyone or anything.

At the moment Vignar was in her room, but as far as Vilkas could hear he had stopped trying to talk to her a couple of hours ago. They were all getting worried, she had stopped eating two days ago, it was like she had died next to Skjor and her body just hadn't caught up with the fact.

"This isn't right, we should be able to help her, she would have come up with something by now if it was us in there." Farkas was obviously as frustrated has he was.

"I know, but it feels like we have tried everything, it's like she can't even hear us."

Just then, Vignar came out the door. "I'm fresh out of ideas, there is just way to get through to her. I've tried to talk and then I just ended up sitting there. She didn't even move."

"I can't help thinking that this is what we would have Aela for if it was anyone else." Farkas said.

That was when the door to the staircase opened and Kodlak walked through the door, and then the smell hit him, it was his girl! She came up from behind Kodlak and smiled at him, he walked towards her en she jumped up in his arms.

"Hi girl!" And then he kissed her, "What are you doing here?"

"I sent her a message just after Aela came back. Before you even left to get the body."

"What happened?" Keilah asked and he put her down on the floor.

They gave her the quick version and about halfway through she started to cry.

"Keilah, I asked you to come back because I think you can get through to her, you two have become very close. And I also think that you know what she is going through. Even if it hadn't been as bad as it is now, she would have still needed you. She needs her friends around her."

"Who's that?" Farkas pointed at two people still standing by the door.

"Oh, sorry, this is Brelyna and Onmund. They traveled with me." The mentioning of Onmund made Vilkas interest peek. The man had been an invaluable source to pleasure, just mentioning Keilah's 'college boyfriend' to her made her work really hard to convince him he didn't need to worry, he almost felt like he should thank him. The two people walked up to them and shook their hands. Onmund had an apologetic look on his face.

"We didn't mean to intrude in your grief, but we didn't feel that she should be traveling alone."

Kodlak took the man's hand, "No need to explain, I'm happy you came with her."

Keilah started to take off her armor and handed them to Vilkas. "Where is she?"

"In her room." Vidnar answered.

"Ok." And when she was just in her tunic and pants she started to walk towards Aelas room. Vilkas threw her things into his room and then walked towards the others who were already at Aelas door.

Keilah walked in to Aelas room, looked at her lying on the bed with her face to the wall and her arms around her knees, and then she laid down behind her, put her arm around her waist and that was it. She didn't even say anything.

"I think we should just leave them alone."Kodlak motioned the others to get out of the room.

Vilkas looked at Brelyna and Onmund. "So, there's a bar in Farkas room. Let's go in there."

Keilah was just lying behind Aela. She remembered the numbing pain she had felt when her father died, it had almost paralyzed her. She knew that there wasn't really anything to do but to give Aela some time, but make sure she knew she wasn't alone.

She didn't speak, now and then she heard the door open behind her, but she just kept holding her, without even moving. Finally, hours later, Aela whispered.

"I'm scared to move."

"I know."

"I'm scared to even open my mouth."

"I know, but eventually the screaming will stop."

"Are you sure?"

"Come on, I'll show you something."

She got up and took Aela with her. She put a fur coat on Aela and took one for herself. She looked Aela into her shiny, almost dead eyes.

"Just listen to me, we are going to walk right out of her, you won't have to talk to anyone, just hold my hand and follow me, just nod if that's ok with you?"

Aela gave her a weak nod, and Keilah took her hand and walked straight outside. Kodlak and Vignar sat outside in the corridor.

"We're going out, we'll be back in a while." Was all Keilah said as they walked by.

She didn't stop once until they were at the stables, both she and Aela got up on Vilda and the she headed towards the mountains in the south. It was late but there was still some light from the setting sun.

When they stopped at deep cliff was right in front of them and Aela slid of the horse. When Keilah got of the horse Aela once again whispered,

"Why are we here?"

"You need to let this out Aela, you can't hold all of this inside you, there is no one here but me and you know that no matter what, I won't tell anyone what happened. You need to let go."

Tears stared to stream down the womans face, and Keilah couldn't hold back her tears either. Aela had been such a support to her, she had believed in her, she had stood by her, whenever she had felt down or had a fight with Vilkas or just in anyway needed anything, Aela had been there. She hadn't been with the Companions for long, but the respect and the love she had for Aela seemed endless. It was quite probable that if it hadn't been for Aela, she wouldn't even have joined.

She knew what she felt, after her dad had died she had curled up into a ball, just holding her knees, just like Aela, hoping that the pain could be pushed back. It couldn't, finally she had just rode up into the mountains in an attempt to run away from the pain, but ended up in a valley, trying to scream the pain out, it was the only thing that had even remotely helped.

"What if it never stops?"

"Then you and I will be by this cliff forever Aela, let go, you need to feel all those things, it's going to hurt more than you can even imagine, but you need to let go."

Tears started to roll again, more and more of them.

"They killed him Keilah, they flayed him." Keilah hadn't known that, but she didn't budge, she knew she couldn't. She was just happy that Aela finally managed to talk in a normal voice.

"It was my fault, I ran off, I left him, and he's dead!" towards the end her voice was getting louder and Keilah started to walk towards her, she knew there was no point in arguing anything Aela said at the moment, she just needed to let everything out.

"He's dead, I loved him and he's dead, and it's my fault!" she was on her knees now and Keilah got behind her and just held her, feeling Aelas sobs through her body, stroking her arms and finally she tilted her head back and screamed. It was a heartbreaking scream from the very core of her sorrow, her entire body was shaking and she just kept screaming over and over again with tears rolled down her cheeks, while Keilah was holding her.

Vilkas and Farkas saw the two women, their intention wasn't to intrude at all, Kodlak had sent them after since he was scared that they were going after the Silver Hands. That Aela somehow had managed to convince Keilah to take revenge. It didn't sound very plausible, but he didn't want to take a chance and sent Vilkas and Farkas after them, to stay behind and not intervene unless absolutely necessary.

But this scene at the side of the cliff was nothing he could have prepared for. Vilkas saw Keilah, hugging Aela from behind and Aela, screaming straight up to the sky, with tears streaming down her face.

"I don't think they are planning anything crazy, let's go back." Farkas said with a low voice.

They met Kodlak outside the hallway to their rooms.

"So?"

"She took her to a cliff and..."

"And?" Vilkas just shrugged, he didn't know how to explain the touching scene without simplifying it. Farkas filled in,

"She was screaming, just... screaming."

Kodlak lifted his eyebrows. "Oh, well... it might be what she needed."

"Why did you send for Keilah?" Vilkas wanted to know.

"They are very close, Keilah might be our newest member, but she has come very close to many of you, and she and Aela seem to have a very special bond, since the very beginning. And also, I imagine losing the only person you have ever been close to teaches you something about handling grief."

Vilkas had never thought of it that way. Whenever Keilah mentioned her dad, she did it with a loving voice, but he now realized that she had been alone when he died.

They walked into Farkas room and Onmund and Brelyna was still in there, Athis had joined them as well.

"Are they ok?" Athis looked as worried as Vilkas felt.

"As ok as could be expected."

They sat down around the bar, Farkas looked with great interest at the two guests.

"It was really nice of you to go with Rabbit."

"Rabbit?" Brelyna looked very confused.

"Oh, I mean Keilah, I call her Rabbit."

"What do you know, she neglected to mention that. She's our friend, she seemed to be needing friends, besides, I really wanted to see Vilkas." Brelyna gave him a smile that for some reason almost made him blush.

* * *

><p>Keilah had no idea how long they had been there. By the time Aelas scream turned into silent sobs, it completely dark and probably in the middle of the night. Keilah made a fire and then pulled the bedroll and pelts from the horse and put them close to the fire. Aela laid down on them and Keilah sat beside her with a hand on her back.<p>

Keilah sat like that the entire night, feeding the fire when needed, making sure to stay awake so they weren't surprised by any animals.

By the time the sun was just about to rise, Aela woke up. Keilah looked at her.

"I'm sorry, I don't really have any food, just some water."

"Thank you." Aela answered with a very sore throat when she took the water. "And thank you for this, I'm not saying I feel good, but it feels like I just woke up, if that makes any sense."

"It does. I know that's not a good feeling but it is the start of getting better."

"How did you do it, all by yourself?"

Keilah just shook her head slowly, "I screamed."

"How come you're back? I thought you were supposed to be away for two months?"

"Kodlak sent for me, he said you needed me."

"I did. Thank you Keilah."

"Do you want to stay here for a while?"

"No, I think I'm ready to head back, I'll probably come here again though."

"Let me know if you need company."

"I will avenge him."

"Let me know if you need company."

"I will."

"Aela, you know it wasn't your fault, and I am really sorry."

They came back early in the morning, Kodlak walked up to Aela as they walked through the door and took her in his arms.

"Thank you Kodlak, for sending for her, and for everything."

"Take some food, you need to eat. Bring it down to my room and I'll meet you there." When Aela walked to the table Kodlak turned to Keilah. "Thank you for coming, I'm not sure what we would have done if you hadn't."

"It would have happened sooner or later anyway, there is no way to stop it."

"Still, thank you."

"She would have done the same for me."

"True, will you be able to stay for a while?"

"Yes, we found something at the college. The masters will be busy for a while so I'll stay as long as she needs me. Where are Brelyna and Onmund?"

"They spent most of the night in Farkas room and then they had some beds in the common bedroom. I gave Brelyna your bed, I didn't think you would mind."

"No, but I need to get some sleep, I haven't slept in days."

"Get some sleep, we will talk more when you wake up again."

On her way down the stairs she realized that she had forgotten to ask Kodlak if it was true that they really had flayed Skjor. And then it hit her that Skjor was really dead, the kind man who persisted on calling whelp for a month, but still treated her with respect. Who obviously loved Aela and would've done anything for her, was dead. In the middle of Aelas grief and her worry and sorrow for her, she had almost forgotten that.

When she came into Vilkas room she just pulled of her clothes and as she walked past the screen she saw Vilkas looking at her.

The first thing that hit Vilkas was how tired she looked, her long hair was tangled and all over the place, her eyes watered and she was paler than usual. The next thing that hit him was that she was completely naked.

"Hi girl."

"Hey," she whispered as she crawled down beside him in the bed.

"Are you ok?"

"No, are you?"

"No. Skjor has been with us for almost as long as I can remember. He was a friend, a comrade and he made Aela so happy. I was very happy for them when they found each other."

He could feel his arm getting wet from her tears and he turned her over and looked at her.

"We followed you, I'm sorry for that, Kodlak was worried." He hadn't meant to tell her, but he didn't want her to find out from someone else.

"I had a feeling he would."

"Thank you, for what you did for her, she is my sister, and I felt so... confused when I couldn't help her the way she would have been able to help me. The way she has helped me so many times."

She moved towards him and he bent down to kiss her. It was probably egoistic of him, but he was very happy that she was here. Watching Aela after Skjors death, all he could think about was how he would feel if it had been Keilah who died. He moved closer to her and pulled her body towards his.

"I have missed you," he whispered to her, kissing her neck and collarbone.

"That is a good thing." Was her answer, "I have missed you too." He found her mouth with his and carefully kissed her, when she responded and opened her mouth for him he sighed.

Keilah felt desperation. Skjors death had scared her, seeing Aelas bottomless pain made her remember the pain she had felt when her father died, and she was terrified to have to relive it.

"Vilkas, please, hold me really tight. I need you close."

"I know girl."

Vilkas held her close the entire time she slept, he finally fell asleep as well, but woke up several times and looked at her, trying to imagine Aelas pain.


	16. Chapter 16

_Hi all,_

_This is once again a very long chapter, simply because it didn't make any sense to split it into two._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Skyrim._

_Thank you for reading!_

* * *

><p>16<p>

It was Skjors funeral, they were up at Skyforge, all of the Companions and quite a few people from town as well. Aela was wearing a beautiful green dress. She was standing with a straight back holding Kodlaks hand. Tears were streaming down her face but it was a more controlled grief. Keilah knew that she had been away once more, but she had been alone that time.

Keilah and Aela had spent many hours in Aelas room, just talking, or more Aela talking and Keilah listening, quite often Farkas or Vilkas was with them as well. Kodlak and Aela talked in private, they had no idea about what but it seemed to do Aela good.

Keilah thought that the ceremony was touching and beautiful, but she did find it strange that they built a wood bier above the forge and then burnt it so Sjords remains sank into the lava. At the same time she found it fitting, that Skjor would be a part of the companions and their weapons for all eternity. The words the spoke were simple but beautiful.

After the funeral Kodlak, Aela, Vilkas and Farkas disappeared for a while and Keilah, Onmund and Brelyna went into Farkas room.

"Are you sure we are allowed in here, it's his room? " Onmund was worried.

"I'm sure, he won't mind, why do you think he has a bar in his room? They'll come looking for us here later." Keilah answered.

"He is really a pleasant one, Farkas I mean, considering the situation he's been very polite." Brelyna said. "And huge, They both are. And Vilkas is absolutely crazy about you, it is almost sickening to see the two of you together.

"Be nice Brelyna, you're just jealous of Keilah." Onmund smiled

"I am! Very!"

They had a meeting in the Underforge and afterwards Vilkas and Farkas walked into Farkas room, he was sure that was were they would be.

"We are drinking in Skjors memory upstairs now. Please come up, all of you are welcome." Brelyna and Onmund both got up.

"It would be my honor" Brelyna answered and Onmund just nodded.

The funeral was for grieving and the drinking was for remembering, they celebrated Skjors life, even Aela smiled a couple of times. Sometime during the night Vilkas found himself next to Onmund and Brelyna who were talking to Farkas. He had noticed that Onmund was in a way avoiding him and he was curious to why.

"So, is everything going well for Keilah at the college?"

"Yes, she is doing very well, there were some comments in the begin about her using a sword as well, but she has earned her respect. Killing a dragon did help of course."

Vilkas mead got stuck on its way down his throat and he started coughing it up. Finally he was able to talk.

"A dragon?"

"Eh, oh, she hadn't mentioned that?" Onmund looked very worried.

"No, it must have slipped her mind. When was this?"

"The first months she spent at college. She didn't kill it alone, but she did most of the work. So when they realized what she was they... well they stopped commenting."

"You have been a god friend to her, she has talked about you." Vilkas smiled, thinking of how he in some ways had been a good friend to him as well. He really didn't want to think about the dragon at the moment, he would just have to deal with that later.

"I'm... thank you, she has been a good friend to me as well. I'm sorry if I have been... avoiding you. I don't want to give you the wrong idea. That I'm interested in her. She is just a friend."

"I know. I was wondering why you were avoiding me."

"I didn't want you to think that I was challenging you in anyway. That the reason I followed her hear was because of that. But maybe she already told you?"

Vilkas didn't know what he was referring to, the only thing she had told him was that he didn't need to worry, that Onmund was just a friend, that was when she wasn't teasing him about how good looking Onmund was, and what a gentleman he was.

"I'm not sure what you are referring to."

"Well, that my... preferences are not with women."

For the second time that night Vilkas choked on his mead.

"No, she didn't tell me that." Oh, this could be very fun next time she was trying to tease him. He looked around to see were she was. She was sitting next to Aela, talking. She looked up and saw him looking at her with a smile. She looked at him and over at Onmund. She looked very insecure but still gave him a confused smile. 'Yes, this could be very fun.' Vilkas thought.

"I take it that she didn't tell you about the other dragon either then?"

Keilah was wondering what they were talking about, Vilkas looked... amused and then he looked angry and scared. It was probably nothing good.

"I might be in trouble." Keilah said to Aela.

"What have you done?"

"Well, I didn't mention the dragons I killed to him."

Aela looked at her and laughed, Keilah noted that the smile didn't reach her eyes, but for the moment she was happy with the laugh.

"You killed dragons, in plural, and you didn't mention it to him?"

"No, it was after the proposals and the murderer that he was upset about. If he was upset about me chasing a murderer, mentioning the dragons seemed stupid."

"What makes you think he knows now?"

"He's talking to Onmund, he knows, he was with me for both of them. And he had that 'I'm going to get you for this'-look, and then he looked upset."

"I wouldn't be to worried if I was you."

"I'm not to be honest, I'm just a bit ashamed that I didn't tell him. I should have."

"Yes, you should have. Just tell him that."

It sounded like a good way to avoid another argument. They hadn't argued yet this time around when she was home, it would be nice to be able to leave without having one.

"You know, you're the only one here today who haven't asked me if I'm ok."

Keilah was surprised at Aelas statement.

"I know you're not."

"Thank you. We had a talk in the circle, we are going after the Silver Hands at the fort were Skjor was killed. Would you be willing to come with us?"

"Of course."

"Vilkas didn't want you to, but I think it's time he finds out how capable you are of taking care of yourself. And I also think it is your choice whether you come or not."

"What do you mean?"

"He hasn't seen you fight yet. I think you might surprise him."

Keilah realized it was true, he hadn't, except the time when she managed to drain herself of magicka and the very short fight with the runaway.

"How angry do you think he would become if I did decide to go. I mean, I am going, I just thought I'd prepare myself for the argument."

"Not sure to be honest. I think he knows that you're going. So probably not too bad. And thank you, for coming with us."

Vilkas walked over to Keilah. The conversation with Onmund had been very interesting and towards the end Brelyna had joined in and given him even more information. He wanted to talk to her, and smiled at the fact that she looked horrified when he came up to her.

"Hi girl."

"Hi." She looked at him with suspicion and Aela got up out of her chair.

"I've had it for tonight, I'm going to go to bed."

"Ok," Vilkas said, he gave her a hug and continued, "I'll see you tomorrow."

He then turned to Keilah again who was just looking at him. He smiled at her, leaned towards her and whispered in her ear.

"I had a very interesting talk to Onmund and Brelyna, but we're not going to talk about that today and we're not going to fight, ok?"

She looked at him with her beautiful black eyes.

"Ok."

"We are going to talk about it someday, but we're not going to fight then either."

"Ok."

"I'm assuming Aela asked you to come when we're going to raid the Silver Hand fort?"

"Yes." He sighed, closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers.

"I'm not going to be able to persuade you to stay behind, am I?"

She put her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"You know I can't do that."

He just squeezed her tighter.

"Two dragons?"

Keilah flinched when he said it, but he didn't say it in an angry way. More a teasing way. She leaned back and looked at him.

"Just saying, two dragons and you don't even mention it."

"I should have, I'm sorry, I just..."

"Didn't want to argue?"

"Something like that."

"I am going to have a fit about it someday, but not today."

He took her hand and they walked up to Onmund and Brelyna.

"I have to say Keilah, I'm starting to see how come you blush every time we mention his name."

The comment made Keilah blush, and she saw Vilkas looking at her. And his face clearly stated that he was not going to let that go.

* * *

><p>The morning after Vilkas, Keilah, Farkas and Aela were in Kodlaks room.<p>

"I'm not happy about this, I think this can cause more problems, but I will not protest any more. Are you brining any one else?"

"No, since this is about the Silver Hand and it is related to us being werewolves it is not wise to bring anyone else." Vilkas answered the question. He still didn't like that Keilah was coming with them, but since she knew their secret and they needed all the help they could get, they needed her. Not even mentioning that there was no way to make her stay.

They had never talked about him being a werewolf, not once, she hadn't even mentioned it and he wondered why. He had preferred not to talk about it since he didn't want to remind her. But he knew that this mission would force him to bring it up, and it scared him.

Keilah looked at Vilkas, they hadn't talked about her following them anymore. She knew he didn't want her to go with them. But she had to. Those people aim to kill the people around her, they had already killed Skjor and she wanted it to end.

When the others walked out she motioned to Kodlak that she wanted a word with him.

"I'll be with you in a minute, I need to talk to Kodlak." She noticed Vilkas questioning look and then the other walked out. Kodlak turned to her.

"Have you found something at the Arcanaeum?"

"I think I have, have you read anything about witches?" A smile on Kodlaks face revealed that he had. "You've red it too?"

"I have, about a witches head."

"That's what I found too, there was no real mentioning of what exactly you are supposed to do with it though. It also mentioned the possibility of other cures that they knew of." Keilah very much wanted to help Kodlak, and Vilkas if he wanted it, but the books she had found hadn't been very clear.

"You can't think of a potion in which to use it, the head I mean?."

"No, potions uses at least two ingredients that can give the same effect. I'm not even sure what effect we are looking for here. And I'm not even sure it is a potion that it is supposed to be used for. I'll keep looking."

"If we both have come to the same result it must mean something Keilah. This is the closest I have been a cure." Kodlak looked almost... eager, Keilah noted.

"May I ask you something Kodlak?"

"Of course."

"It might be a rude question, but why are you so eager to find a cure? In a way I can understand why, but it seems more like an obsession for you."

"I had a dream in which me and the other Harbingers were going to Sovngarde, but the first harbinger to be turned into a beast, Terrfyg, is refused enterence to Sovngarde. He is instead taken away by a beast to the Hircine huntingground. It was Hircine who first made us werewolves."

"Did you go to the hunting grounds as well?"

"No, I was... stoped, I had help to resist. But I felt decived I can not imagine and afterlife that is not in Sovngarde."

"That's... disturbing, I'm sorry, that's probably not a strong enough word." Both Keilah and Kodlak were quiet for a while. "I can't help thinking of Skjor."

"He wasn't as disturbed by the dream as I was, he and Aela seemed to like the idea actually, they did not see it as a curse. I can't imagine an afterlife where I'm not in Sovngarde."

"We'll figure something out Kodlak, if we keep searching together we will find a cure."

"I'm sure, have you talked to anyone about this?" Kodlak didn't say it in an accusatory way so Keilah didn't take offense.

"No, no-one. The librarian at the Arcanaeum is actually amused with my werewolf obsession." Keilah blushed slightly towards the end of the sentence and Kodlak laughed.

"You haven't even told Vilkas?" He sounded surprised.

"No. You told me not to tell anyone." Keilah hadn't even thought about telling Vilkas, judging by the look at Kodlaks face she probably should have.

"You should tell Vilkas Keilah, I wouldn't want you to keep secrets from him on my behalf."

"I just didn't think of it. I'll talk to him about it. I have a lot to learn about... relationships. A lot of it is very confusing to me." She had felt that for a while. She had no idea what would have happened if she hadn't have Aela.

"You'll learn, I'm sure Vilkas is pretty confused as well. And he knows that you're not used to relationships."

"Thank you Kodlak, for everything."

"Than you Keilah, you are a very big help to me. To us."

Vilkas and the two others were standing in the corridor outside Kodlaks rooms and waited for Keilah.

"What did she want with Kodlak?" Farkas wondered.

"I have no idea." Vilkas was slightly disturbed about it.

"She will tell you if it's something important." Aela assured him. Vilkas wasn't too certain about that. Keilah didn't seem to think that it was obvious that she should tell him things. Like the dragons.

She came out of the room and took Vilkas hand.

"I'm ready to go." That sort of did it, a simple thing like taking his hand and he really didn't care anymore about what she was talking to Kodlak about.

* * *

><p>They were closing in on the Silver Hand fort and Vilkas was starting to get nervous. They kept telling him that she was a capable fighter, but she was so small. And she was his girl! And this is were Skjor had died. He turned to Aela.<p>

"Are you going to be ok with this?"

"Yes," she gave him a crocked smile, "are you?"

"I'm not sure."

"Just don't get in front of her, she needs to be able to use her magic without worrying about scorching you."

Not get in front of her! That would not be easy, watching her take the lead into a battle.

The first room they entered was filled with Silver Hands, Vilkas counted to eleven of them, drew his sword and watched Keilah threw out her hand, a few seconds later an explosion killed four of the men and then she drew her sword.

Not minutes later he cleaved the head of a very annoying woman, turned around and his jaw dropped as he watched Keilah. Lightning was coming out of her hand hand she moved like the wind. While she was focusing her magic on a man running towards her, another man came up from her right. She moved to the side, hit the flat side of the sword with her hand hand, spun around and then drew her sword into his armpit, not a second later she again aimed the lightning to the other man still running towards her. As he came closer she withdrew her sword from the man behind her back and in the same move chopped of the other mans head. That was the last one of them.

Farkas came up to him, laughed and said, "See, no need to worry, she can handle herself."

"I can see that."

Keilah quickly looked through the pockets of the men she killed. The first ones were all burned so bad that she didn't think there was much point in even looking if they had anything of value. When she turned around she saw Aelas looking at Vilkas and she turned her face towards him. He looked... strange.

"What?" She demanded

"I think my brother just realized that it was silly to worry over you running after one murderer." Farkas said with a huge grin on his face.

Vilkas walked up to her but before he was in front of her Aela stopped him.

"Don't distract her, or yourself. At least you know you don't have to worry about her." She smiled when she said it and Keilah felt herself blush. At the same time she was thankful for Aela, he would have distracted her.

They fought there way through corridors, Aela and Keilah stayed in the corridor and Vilkas and Farkas cleaned out the rooms. Keilah had seen Farkas fight before but realized quickly that the brothers fighting technique was pretty much the same, Farkas was a stronger and Vilkas smarter but they were still very similar. They were good, very good. She was doing better than before as well since she was more used to fighting with people close to her, so none of the spells or hits ended up on any of her shield-siblings.

Finally they came to a big oval room with a barred opening at the other end. There were several silver hands in the room, Aela killed quite a few of them in instant, Keilah had still not seen her miss a single shot. Farkas and Vilkas moved forward, ahead of her and attacked the men closer to the door. That's when she saw it, on the other side of the door, a horde of men an women came towards the bars, running down the stairs on the other side of the bars.

Vilkas froze when he saw the men and women on the other side of the bars, they might be able to take all of them out, but it would be a problem and they might get hurt. Keilah could heal them, but not without putting herself at risk. Just when he felt the panic creeping up his back and he heard Keilah scream.

"Get behind me, both of you, NOW!"

Vilkas hesitated, he didn't want to send her up against this, but Farkas pulled his arm.

"Come on!"

They got behind Keilah with drawn swords, Aela was firing against the bars, taking down one person with every shot but there seemed to be and endless amount of the, coming up behind from the dead ones falling down. This was not good, and his tiny girl were standing, facing them, with one leg behind the other just staring them down. He was terrified for her.

"Just stay behind me, don't run up until I say so." There was no fear in her voice. He looked at Farkas and for the first time that day he was actually looking worried. "Aela, make sure to take out any archers that are coming through the door."

"Don't worry about them Keilah, I'll take care of them." Vilkas noticed that she didn't sound worried.

That's when the bared door started to open, the took a firmer grip on his sword, getting ready.

"Steady," Keilah murmured, "Hold."

The Silver hands were coming towards them, Keilah didn't move, she was just standing, with her clenched fist. Archers came through and moved to the sides of the opening but Aela took them out before they managed to release a single arrow. When they were about 15 feet away, Keilah took at deep breath and let out an earthshaking sound.

"FUS RO DAH!" A shock-wave moved from her, the people in front of her were flying back several of them seemed to die mid air, the wave continued through the door and up the stairs. Then she screamed "GO! Take out the rest!" And she ran towards the people left alive.

There ones who were still alive were in a state of shock and it didn't take much to kill them off. Quite a few actually turned around and ran up the stairs again. He turned around to look at Keilah but Farkas spoke first.

"Wow, that was something, I had heard that shouts were powerful, but that was really something."

"It sure is." Aela smiled and put an arm around Keilah.

"You've seen it?" Vilkas was stunned, Aela had never mentioned seeing Keilah shout.

"Yes, when we were on our way to Bretilns Pass, remember, when you were sort of an asshole, you too fought and us girls took off?"

"I do remember that, I don't remember you ever mentioning that though."

"It's hard to explain to be honest, how would you explain what you just saw?"

Vilkas thought that over, and realized she was right. It was hard to explain, the power was stunning, and then he looked at his girl. As small as she was, she was extremely powerful.

"How often can you do that?" Farkas wondered.

"Not very often, it takes a lot of energy, I guess it depends on which shout I use. I don't know that many so I'm not sure."

She gave him a shy look but he didn't know what to say, he was still stunned. And he felt like an idiot, being all worried about her and here she was, fearless, talented and extremely powerful.

Keilah noticed the look she got from Vilkas, but she didn't get any reaction from him. Maybe doing that in front of him was a mistake but she hadn't seen any other option. She felt like a freak.

"Come on," Aela said, "It's not that far, we've almost emptied the entire fort."

They walked through the opening and up the stairs that was behind it. When they came up the stairs Keilah noticed that Aela was almost drawn to a door that was on the left. She put her hand on the door and her eyes became shiny.

"I found Skjor behind this door." Farkas walked up to Aela and put his arm around her, she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Maybe you should wait outside with me?" he suggested.

"Thank you."

Keilah and Vilkas walked inside, there was only one man there but she saw the horrendous experiment they had done to werewolves. There were flayed and hanging on the walls, also men and women lying dead on tables still in their human form. One man seemed to be half werewolf, in the middle of the change when he was killed. She took a deep breath and tried to blink away the tears.

"Why are they doing this?"

"I don't know, they are basically just trying to kill as many werewolves as possible."

"I don't understand. What is the point?"

"There really is none, lets get out of here, Farkas and Aela are waiting." Keilah dried her face from tears. She looked at Vilkas, he seemed very distant and she really didn't know why. She assumed that it had something to do with the shouts, he had hardly looked at her since. He just turned around and walk towards the door.

They walked out and found Aela sitting on the floor with Farkas next to her, his arm around her back. Keilah knelt down in front of her.

"I'm so sorry Aela, are you ok to keep going or do you want to wait here?"

"No, I want to come, I just... I couldn't go in there."

"It's ok, I understand." She got up and offered her hand to Aela and pulled her up when she accepted it. "Let's go kill the rest of these people."

The fury inside Keilah got worse the further into the fort they came. She hated these people and she couldn't understand why they did this. Just killed people because they were werewolves. In her mind there was no point to that.

The anger made her stronger, she was just afraid that she would loose her focus, but so far she was doing ok.

Vilkas was filled with fury as well. These people had been hunting them for years. They had killed his friend, a man who had been apart of is life since he was a young lad. They experimented on people! He understood that they didn't view them as people, that they thought that since they were werewolves they were no longer human. But he was bloody human, and no-one would be allowed to tell him differently!

Keilah seemed angry as well, but he wasn't sure why, if it was at him or if it was at the Silver Hands. She was fighting like a goddess, sparks flying from her wonderful eyes as well as from her hand. Wielding her sword with a determination that almost frightened him.

They were finally at the room that according to Aela was the furthest into the fort. It was a round room with pillars and in the middle was a female mage. She fired sparks at them the minute they were inside the door. Keilah threw up some kind of barrier and screamed at them.

"We need to lure her into using as much magic as possible, once she is drained we should be able to kill her quite easily. Just kill anyone else in here and I'll handle her."

Vilkas knew that this wasn't the time to argue but was still worried. What if she drained herself first.

"Are you sure? Will you be ok."

"I'm Breton you know. I can stand more magic than you, I'll be fine, just go!"

He kept an eye on her, to see if she seemed ok, she circled and lured the mage woman to use more and more magic and she did take a few bad hits. Aela was firing arrows at her to keep her attention devided between the two of them and dodged behind a pillar whenever sparks or fire came flying towards her.

Vilkas and Farkas focused on the other people in the room. Keilah came closer and closer to the mage who started to look really scared. Aela had been forced to draw her sword since the other Silver hands had come a little to close to for her to be able to use her bow.

And thats when it happened, Keilah took a bad hit, screamed and fell to the floor. Vilkas mind became completely blank and the Mage woman screamed in victory running up to Keilah to kill her, apparently drained on magicka. It was like she didn't even care that anyone else was in the room, she was so focused on Keilah.

Vilkas saw everything in slow motion, running towards the woman moving against his girl. He ran passed two other men and killed them with quick blows without hardly noticing, the only thing he could see was Keilah on the floor and that bloody witch on her way to her. And he knew that he would not get there in time. In the corner of his eye he saw Farkas moving in the same direction, but he was even further away.

And then the witch was above Keilah, letting out a triumphant shout and Vilkas screamed. He saw Keilah opened her eyes and the witches face froze. And faster than Vilkas could even follow with his eyes, she place one hand on the back of the witches head and the other on her chin and with a snap, she broker her neck.

"Gods! You scared the life out of me!" Aela screamed. "Are you insane!"

Vilkas was so shocked that he actually fell to his knees right next to her.

"Don't ever do that again!" Was the only thing he could say.

"I was drained, but I knew she was to, I had to make sure she came close enough for me to kill her."

"Not ever again!" He repeated.

She looked at him with apologizing eyes.

"I'm... I'm sorry Vilkas, It was the only thing I could think of." She got up and looked around. "Are they all dead?"

"Yes." That was Aela, "We got them all."

Vilkas was still on his knees, Keilah extended her hand and he took it, got up and looked right into her eyes.

"Not ever again, I mean it, you scared me to death." She just nodded.

Crazy, bloody girl.

"I needed her to get close, I knew I would be ok."

"But I didn't, I can't read your bloody mind you know."

"Ok, could you please have this argument another time, we should get out of here and head home." Farkas interrupted them.

"I want to get out of here to, and never come back." Aela looked... relieved and confused at the same time. "I don't want to spend another second here if I don't have to."

"Lets go, if we leave now we can get back to Whiterun before dawn." Vilkas said and moved out, he had just had the scare of his life and he also just wanted to get out of there.


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: I do not own Skryim, Bethesda does._

* * *

><p>17<p>

They made it back to Jorrvaskr before dawn. Keilah had walked next to Aela the entire way, Vilkas hadn't said a single word or even turned around to look at her. She was feeling sick, she wasn't sure what it was that was the biggest problem to him, the shouts or the faking injury.

When they walked through the doors she took off her armor, put it in a pile to get it cleaned since it was soaked in blood and walked into the bath with Aela, they both had blood in their hair and face.

"Did it make you feel any better, avenging him?" Keilah had to know, that was a part of mourning that she didn't know anything about.

"A little, but there's a lot of them still out there. I think it was mostly knowing that I was doing something about it that made me feel better."

"Have they always been after you?"

"I'm not sure to be honest. As long as anyone alive now can remember at least. You really did scare me Keilah, I thought that my need for revenge had gotten you killed. It was horrible and I actually know how that felt for Vilkas. I know that you did what needed to be done. But he got scared. Why didn't you just run up to her, if you knew her magicka was drained?"

"She could still have used magic, I needed her to think it was a done deal, that was the only way to get her close enough without risking another bad hit."

"You scared him, and me!"

"I'm really sorry, I... I didn't even think about that. I was so focused on killing her and survive killing her."

"I know. Pretty damn impressive though, snapping her neck like that. And you were fast!"

"I've made a mess of things again, haven't I?"

"You'll figure it out. Just give it time."

They finished up and Keilah was on her way to the sleeping quarters when she remembered that Brelyna was sleeping in her bed. When she turned around Vilkas was standing in the corridor with nothing on but his pants.

Vilkas had already finished washing up and was in his room when he heard her passing the corridor leading into his room and went out to see what she was doing. She stopped just a few feet from the door to the sleeping quarters, like she just remembered something and turned around. She froze up when she saw him.

"I just remembered than Brelyna is sleeping in my bed." She looked so insecure and he didn't want to pressure her.

"You can sleep in my bed, if you don't want me there I'll find somewhere else to sleep. I don't need as much sleep as you anyway." He might not want to pressure her, but the fact that she was obviously avoiding him was killing him. He had no idea how to handle this. Then he noticed her confusion.

"Why would I not want you there? I thought you were avoiding me and I didn't want to... I don't know, force you into something."

That really took him by surprise. "Come to my room, I think we need to talk." he held out his hand and was incredible relieved when she took it.

Keilah was surprised, why would he think that she was avoiding him? He had hardly said five sentences to her since they left. And she wasn't sure what she had done this time. But now he seems to think that she was avoiding him.

She got into his room and he sat down by the table in the corner, she headed over there and sat down in the other chair. She was tired and felt hurt. She was also ashamed for scaring him, she hadn't mean too, but after talking to Aela she understood better how scared he must have been. She felt bad.

Vilkas watched hear lean her head into her hands.

"You've never asked me about me being a werewolf." It was probably best to just flat out say it. She looked up and seemed genuinely confused.

"What?"

"Does it not bother you? I thought that... that me being a werewolf was something that came to you when we talked to Kodlak and seeing the things you saw at the fort, and that you, I don't know, found it repulsive."

Keilah was stunned. What was he thinking? How could he even think that? She got up out of her chair and walked towards him, lost for words and finally just said it.

"How can you even think that?"

Vilkas watched her as she walked up to him. She stood right in front of him and put her hands on his cheeks.

"Listen to me carefully, I don't care about that and I most definitely don't find anything about you repulsive." He closed his eyes and exhaled, it felt like he did it properly for the first time that day.

He took her hands in his, "How can you not care about that? I'm cursed."

"Don't say that, please Vilkas." And then she kissed him, he sighed.

"Why did you think that I was avoiding you?"

"You looked at me in a very strange way, after the shout. I thought that you..."

"That I, what?"

"Thought I was a freak, I sure feel like one sometimes." He just looked at her, his beautiful girl, he was about to think that she was insane when he understood why she had reacted the way she did a few minutes ago.

"I'm sorry girl, I would never think that of you, I mostly just felt silly for worrying about you. You were amazing today." He squeezed her hands. "But you did scare me, it felt like my heart was about to explode when I saw that woman..."

"I am sorry about that, I didn't think about it in that way. I was just trying to lure her into stop being so bloody careful. She was constantly out of my reach."

"Don't do it again, please." She kissed him again.

Keilah suddenly remembered what she and Kodlak had been talking about earlier, that she should tell him things.

"I need to tell you something else." She sat down into his lap.

"Oh, this must be bad if you're getting into my lap."

"I like your lap. You're like a big comfortable chair." She was relieved to hear him laugh. "I'm not very good at this."

"At what?"

"Relationships, the only true relationships I've had were with my father and he was, well, my father. There was nothing I could do wrong in his eyes."

"I think you're doing quite well, I'm not complaining."

"I just, forget, to tell you things, Kodlak was a bit upset with me today."

"Like you forgot to tell me about the dragons?" He looked at her with those teasing eyes that she loved. And she leaned in to kiss him again.

"I didn't 'forget' to tell you about the dragons. I just didn't tell you because I knew you would be upset. But I didn't tell you that I'm helping Kodlak, and in a way you I guess, with finding a cure."

Vilkas was actually surprised by that. He pulled her closer and looked at her.

"How are you helping?"

"The library at school is huge, they have books about mostly anything. I've been searching there."

"Why?" That was the only thing he could think of saying, and it was just a way to keep her talking while he tried to gather his mind.

"Kodlak asked me, before I left. He _did_ ask me not to tell anyone, and today he scolded me for_ not_ telling you. He said we should not have secrets from each other." she looked down like she was embarrassed. "He told me I wasn't very good with relationships and that I should talk to you more."

He suddenly felt a bit annoyed with Kodlak, he didn't like that he was making his girl sad. "He shouldn't have done that." He hugged her closer, she was in his lap, curled up with her knees at her cheek her hair loose the way he loved it. She felt so fragile and sweet when she was like that.

"I am sorry, for not telling you things, I think I'm just not used to have someone listening."

"I do know of something you haven't told me, and it was not by mistake, you flat out tricked me."

She looked at him with confused eyes and he kissed her on the nose.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"Well, it turns out I didn't have to worry about Onmund at all, that he prefers the company of other men, not women." He was very pleased to see her blush.

"Oh, that."

"Yes, _that_."

"Hmmm... " Then he saw that fire in her eyes again, the teasing one. "I thought it offered a nice leverage."

"Really?" He started to play with her hair, it was wet and incredible soft. "Do you really think you need one?"

"It's never bad to have one. Speaking of, did they mention J'zargo?" She had a very smug look.

"No... they didn't. Why? Who is he?"

"He's one of my fellow students. He's been very persuasive when trying to get me into bed."

Vilkas felt sick. With Onmund he had known that she was only teasing, but if there was someone who was actively trying to take her from him, he might have to go to her college and talk some sense into him.

Keilah saw the change in his looks, she did find a sadistic pleasure in him being jealous.

"He's a Khajiit, he says he can do the most amazing things with his tail in bed." she smiled at him with her most fake innocent face. He groaned and got up out of the chair with her still in his arms. Moved her in his arms so her legs were on either side of his hips walked over and pushed her against the door and kissed her.

"Are you saying that someone actually dares to talk to you like that?"

"He is very persistent." Keilah smiled at Vilkas, he had something wild in his eyes, but it didn't scare her at all, it did however arouse her. She would have never thought that a man claiming her would be something she liked. But in this case she did and she loved to tease him about it, making him even more possessive. "And he has a very filthy, vivid and descriptive language about what he wants to do to me."

Vilkas felt furious, someone dared to talk dirty to _his_ girl. His beast roared for him to claim her as his, and all his. He pushed her against the door and reached up under her nightgown to take of her undergarment, and the moan from her encourage him further and he pulled down his own trousers with the free hand, the other one still around her waist while he was kissing her. He put his hands on her behind and lifted her up, when she put her legs around his waist her and she sighed.

He whispered into her ear, "Tell me that you are mine."

She hugged him and kissed him underneath his ear and said "I am all yours Vilkas." Then she reached down in between them and steered him into her warmth.

He kissed her again, deep, while thrusting into her hard.

"Say it again!" he groaned and she smiled at him.

"I am yours." Almost a whisper as she looked him straight into his eyes.

He couldn't hear her say it enough. He wanted it from her over and over again, to be sure.

Her panting became louder, and she said, "Are you mine?"

The question made him stop his pounding for a second and he looked at her.

Keilah was almost worried for a second when he stopped, but then he looked at her with a smile on his lips and said, "Yes, I am yours." Then he pulled her off the door and walked with her to the bed, doing his very best not to trip on his trousers, still inside her.

He put her down and pulled off her nightgown, bent down and started to circle his tongue around her bud. She could feel the orgasm coming.

He moved up and started to kiss her throat, "I am yours and only yours." he whispered into her ear and then his started to breath harder. "Oh gods! Keilah!" And then he released inside her.

Vilkas was watching Keilah lying on his arm. He reached over and stroked the hair from her face. "You know it's true, right?" She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.

"That what is true?"

"That I am yours, and only yours, that you are the only woman I want." She gave him her most lovely smile but he did see a hint of something else in her eyes as well. He was hoping that he wasn't pushing her.

"Thank you Vilkas. You do know that you don't have to worry about J'zargo?"

"I do, I just don't like when someone is making a move on my girl." He really didn't, it made him furious. What made him more furious was that he was talking dirty to her. No one but him was allowed to talk dirty to her. Then he remembered something Brelyna had said.

"Brelyna said that the only way to make you blush was to ask you about me, is that true?" He noticed that the question actually did make her blush.

"Yes."

"You want to tell me why?"

"If you get me a blanket, I'm cold." He reached down and pulled a blanket over them .

"Move closer and I'll warm you."

"You're always so warm." She put her arm around his chest.

"I'm Nord you know." He pulled her even closer. "Tell me."

"Every time I think of you, or someone asks about you or even just say your name, I think about sex."

"But you don't blush when that cat tells you dirty things?"

"It's not the same, he's not you."

"So I make you blush?" I found that very amusing, he liked that she thought about sex as soon as she thought about him. It was quite mutual and he wondered how long it would be like this. It felt ridiculous that all he ever wanted to do when he saw her was take her to bed.

"You know you do, I blush all the time around you."

"Not when you're teasing me, or when I'm teasing you."

"True, I'm just not used to... this, sex, like this." He hugged her, he wasn't sure he wanted her to explain further, he still preferred to not know. He knew that the women he had been with didn't matter and he thought, or hoped, that it was the same for her.

"Truth be told, neither am I." It was the truth, but she looked skeptic. He didn't like that and since this seemed to be an evening of clearing the air, he might as well go there. "Listen, I'm not saying I haven't been with others, but it wasn't like this. I... didn't care for them the way I do for you." Coward, he scolded himself, why couldn't he just tell her how he really felt? Because he didn't want to push her, he reminded himself. No need to rush.

She just looked at him, "It's ok Vilkas, I'm not stupid, I know you've been with other women. But thank you for telling me, that I'm... It makes me happy." So he kissed her.

Keilah was wondering if she should tell him that anyone before him didn't mean anything either, but she really preferred to pretend they, all two of them, didn't exist.

"I know you probably have already figured it out. It was just after dad had died, I was drunk, really drunk, twice and I just... wanted to be close to someone. It is hardly worth mentioning."

He hugged her tighter. "Ok. You do understand that I don't care? You need to sleep."

"Why are you always saying that to me? Like you're my dad or something."

"Because you keep waiting for me to get tired and I won't" He was right, she did wait for him to get tired, she would like to watch him sleep for once, it hadn't happened yet.

"Can I just ask you one more question?"

"One." He said and gave her his stern look.

"How do you and Farkas know that he is the oldest? I thought you were found by Jergen, but Farkas talk of him like he was your real dad."

"I don't think he was, but I do think he was a friend of our family. He avoided to talk about it, but he said that Farkas was the oldest."

"He probably shoved you out of the way to be first."

"Probably, he is stronger."

"Does it bother you, to not know?"

"No, not really, I have a family, they might not all be my family by blood, but I don't care. And I have Farkas, he is... everything in way, he has always been there."

"Please read to me, I like it when you do that." She felt him reach for a book.

"You know, I used to read to Farkas, he could read but liked it better when I did it." She thought of it, they must have been so cute.

And then he started reading. This was her second favorite time of every evening.

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><p><em>Thank you for your reviews<em>

_RavingSunshine: Thank you, I'm glad you liked both chapters. We'll see if Vilkas calms down :) __ And yes, Dragon Shouts rule!_

_Lorrain: __No, it's not pleasant, don't do that :) __ Thank you for following!_

_Evalyne: You are right. I'll try to fix that, the misuse of words might be a language-problem. As for Vilkas and Farkas, you are probably right, I know I have changed quite a lot, both in the characters and the storyline, mostly to fit the story I wanted to write. _

_As for going back and fixing the spelling-mistakes, if I re-upload a chapter does that mean a mail is being sent out to the ones with alerts? I have done it before but then I realized that it might mean that an alert is sent out. And sending of 15+ mails to people without a heads up might make me a very unpopular writer. Anyone who knows?_


	18. Chapter 18

I hope you all had a great New Years Eve!

And thank you for your answers regarding uploading and mails.

Disclaimer: I don't own ESS: Skyrim, Bethesda does

A huge thank you to the amazing Lorrain for beta-reading. Any remaining misspellings and flaws are mine and probably due to me not doing what she told me to do.

I'm not going to be able to publish that much the coming weeks, the beginning of the year at work usually means a ridiculous amount of overtime. But don't worry, I will keep writing.

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><p>18<p>

Onmund and Brelyna left a few days later.

"Don't worry about anything, we'll let you know when they are done staring at that orb." Brelyna said while giving her a hug before she continued to Vilkas "You better take care of our girl!"

Onmund gave Keilah a hug as well and then turned to Vilkas and extended his hand. "It was really nice to meet you Vilkas."

Keilah noted Vilkas smile when she took his hand as he held out the other to Onmund, "It was really nice to meet you as well."

Farkas came up to them and had a quick, quiet talk with Brelyna. Keilah was a bit surprised but knew she would find out everything, either from Farkas or Brelyna when she got back to school.

Onmund walked up to Aela, "I am truly sorry for your loss Aela." Then he gave her a hug. Keilah realized that her friends from the college obviously had become friends with the Companions and liked the idea.

Then they were off. They had spent over a week with her among the Companions and she was very grateful that they had stayed for that long.

"So Farkas, what happened between you and Brelyna?" Vilkas asked.

"I'm a gentleman, we never kiss and tell." Farkas said and turned around and walked through the door.

Two weeks later she received a message from Onmund telling her things were calming down at the college and that she probably should come back. She decided to leave the next day. In an attempt to lighten the blow Vilkas and Farkas made plans to go out hunting the same day. He didn't want to stay in the house and notice how empty his room was the for first couple of days.

He had made some plans for the evening and tried to find her, he wanted to surprise her and he finally found her in the sleeping quarters, digging through her locker.

"Hi girl, what are you looking for?"

"Nothing really, just going through my supply of herbs. It's a bit annoying to have them in two different places and since the two places are so far apart I tend to have two different sets of supplies as well."

He looked at her as she was digging around in the, quite small locker. "Why do you keep this? It's so small and completely full, you can hardly find anything in it."

"What do you mean?" She glanced up on him looking completely confused. He knelt down next to her.

"I mean; why don't you move your things into my room?"

Keilah froze up, what was he saying? A slight panic went through her body, he must be kidding. She tried to make a joke of it, and looked up at him with a flirtatious smile

"My, what are you saying Vilkas, do you want me to move in with you?"

The panic got even worse when she realized that he wasn't smiling back. Instead he pulled her up to her feet.

"Yes, that is what I'm saying. You spend every night in there anyway, there's enough room for you in there as well. Besides, I like you in there." He smiled at her.

"Vilkas, I don't know, this works for me, I have a room at the college as well, I don't need that much space here." She was really scared, why was he doing this, things were fine the way they were.

Vilkas was about to lose his temper, what was her problem? It was just a bloody locker and she hadn't used the bed since the first night they spent together.

"Why is this such a big deal?"

"I'm... I don't know, it just seems unnecessary. It's just a locker."

"Exactly, It's just a locker." he was starting to get annoyed and he knew that if he didn't calm down the wolf in him was going to make itself noticeable and he really didn't think it would help the situation at hand.

"Damn it, Keilah! Why do you do this? I just want us to be together, it's just a bloody locker but it seems like you want to keep me and the rest of your life completely separated."

"Don't you think you're overreacting a bit now, Vilkas? And I'm not keeping them separated, I brought my friends here!"

"They followed you here because they were worried for you, you didn't ask them to come. You hardly even tell me anything."

"I told you! I'm working on that! I'm trying to figure these things out."

"Then why can't you just move your things to my room? It's your room just as much as mine anyway by now."

"Oh come on, we've been together for less than three months and I spent one of those away from here!"

"So? I love you, I want you in my life and in my bloody room. I can just move in the stupid locker in there if that makes you happier!" Then he choked, he did not just say that! Not like that! He could see the exact moment when she realized what he had said as well. "Damn, I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw it in your face like that."

She had the biggest eyes – as if she was completely freaked out. Then she just turned around and walked out.

"Keilah!" She just kept walking "Gods be damned!" he kicked her stupid locker with his foot.

Keilah just walked through the main hall and outside using the back door from Jorrvaskr and up on the wall. She climbed to a small ledge she had found there once and sat down. Hyperventilating.

She hadn't really handled that well. He just took her of guard, she wasn't prepared for it. She had avoided thinking about how she really felt about him. She was just scared and felt like they might be moving forward a bit too fast.

"Hi Keilah." She flinched and looked up at Athis.

"Oh, hi Athis, you scared me."

"I'm sorry, I saw you walking up here. It's a good spot." He sat down next to her. "I come up here sometimes when I need a moment."

"It's hard to be able to think in there, with all the people around."

Keilah had never properly talked to Athis, not really by choice, he just wasn't the kind of man you small talked with. He had always been nice to her and she knew that he and Vilkas were close, that Vilkas had been his first shield brother the way Farkas had been hers.

"You overheard our argument didn't you?"

"Yes."

"I'm not really used to this, not having any privacy. Not that I used to have that much to keep in private before."

"I know what you mean, I used to be just like you, just walked around until I ended up here."

"I didn't know that."

"The first years in the Companions I walked around, just like you are doing now. Not to a college, but I just dropped by here now and then. But I like it here now."

She didn't really know what to say.

"I think you just need time, to adjust, and I think you are scared. But he won't get tired of you, you are too much of a challenge for that." He gave her a smile and she realized that she wasn't sure if she had seen him smile before. "I have seen him with other women, it has never been anything like this. And since you don't seem to react like other women do it makes him, well, worried."

"I'm just not really... I'm not sure how to handle this."

Athis got up from beside her, "It'll come to you, and he'll wait for you until it does." He started to walk off.

"Athis!"

"Yes?" He turned around with raised eyebrows.

"Thank you."

"Anytime, Rabbit." He said it with a teasing smile.

She stayed there and no one else came so she assumed that Athis didn't tell anyone where she was, she appreciated that.

Sometime after dusk she got up and walked down the stairs to the courtyard and saw Vilkas, he looked furious.

"Where, in Talos name, have you been? Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"I'm fine, I can take care of myself you know." Could he just stop acting like her father for a while?

"I know you can, I had plans you know, since this is you last evening here." She hadn't even thought of that.

She started walking towards Jorrvaskr.

"Where are you going?" Vilkas was furious, and she couldn't really blame him but seeing him made her panic again. She was also cold and tired.

"Inside Vilkas, I'm really cold."

"Ok, can you just stop and talk to me?"

And she tried, she really did, but this argument ended up the same way as all the other arguments they've had. They argued about how they argued. In the middle of it he just threw up his hands and walked inside. She followed him downstairs. She was furious and she knew she needed to leave early in the morning and that stupid prick picked a second fight with her and then just walked away.

"Can you just listen to me!" She screamed after him in the corridor on the lower floor.

"I am listening to you! It is impossible to not listen to you!" By now they were standing in the hallway just outside his door.

"No, you're not, you are just being stubborn and pretending to be listening to me so I will shut up."

"Girl, you are driving me crazy! I am bloody listening to you, but nothing you are saying makes any sense. You're just nagging by now, repeating the same thing over and over again."

"You ass, I'm not nagging, I'm just trying to get some response from you, but you're just yelling at me!"

"I'm not bloody yelling at you!"

"Yes you are, you are screaming." Once again their voices were extremely loud. It seemed like that was the only way they fought. She hated it.

"Listen to me girl, if you were a little bigger I would be punching you, I would really just like to put you over my lap and spank you!"

"You wouldn't dare! And stop pointing you bloody FINGER AT ME I HATE IT!"

"If you stop SHOUTING!"

"You know bloody well I'm not shouting if I were YOU AND YOUR ARROGANT ASS WOULD BE PINNED AGAINST THE WALL!"

"Would you two please shut up!" Keilah blushed. Every time they fought she completely forgot that other people were around. And now Farkas was fed up with them, they were standing just outside his room. She turned her back to Vilkas and looked with apologizing eyes at Farkas.

"I'm really sorry Farkas, we didn't know that you were awake."

"I wasn't."

"Oh, I'm..." That's when she heard the door slammed shut behind here, she turned around, she could believe her eyes. And then she heard the lock turn!

"Can't you just make friends with him Rabbit? We were supposed to go hunting after you left tomorrow, and if you leave him like this, he will be horrible. Please!" Farkas sounded really tired. But she could hardly hear him

"I would try if THE BASTARD HADN'T LOCKED HIMSELF IN!" And then she slammed her fists against his door.

"Go and sleep in your own bloody bed with your stupid locker!" She heard from inside the room.

"Come on, Rabbit, share a drink with me and calm down a bit." She turned around and glared at him. "Please, for my sake."

She did really feel sorry for Farkas, for waking him up, for arguing with his brother the day before they were going out and she was leaving.

"Ok."

"Thank you."

Vilkas was furious, he had been trying to do something nice and got this thrown in his face. He was already upset that she was leaving tomorrow, couldn't she just let some things slide? She was driving him crazy. His pulse was elevated and he just pulled of his clothes and got into bed. He could hear the mumbled words from his brother's room across the hall. He just didn't have the energy at this time. Every time they fought he felt completely drained afterwards.

A while later he fell asleep.

He woke up to the sound of his lock being opened. In the heat of the moment he had completely forgotten that there was hardly a lock in the entire Skyrim that she couldn't open if she wanted to. He just laid still, on his back, with his arms over his eyes. He didn't want to fight anymore and he wasn't sure what mood she was in, sometimes there was just no end to it when she started.

He felt the bed move when she climbed into it and then her naked body when she slid under the blanket. She pushed her face to his neck and whispered.

"I'm not falling for that one again, I know you woke up when I picked the lock." He moved his arm from his face and put it around her.

"I probably should never have told you how lightly I sleep."

"Probably not. I promised your brother to make up with you, he didn't want you to be a monster while I'm away." She was kissing his neck and jaw now, her warm lips making him shiver.

"Well, I'm very, very upset with you, so you would have to work pretty hard." She got up on top of him still kissing his jaw and chin, working her way up to his mouth. He was very much looking forward to her kissing him. But the she started to move further down instead. Clawing his sides, kissing his nipples, and continued down and placed herself between his knees. Was she going to... he looked down on her and the teasing lust-full look she gave him made him gasp. Then she leaned over and licked the full length of his cock, and he threw back his head and groaned loudly. When she held his hand around him and took him in her mouth his head was spinning.

"Gods! Keilah, by Mara do not stop!" Her giggle sent shivers down his member and made him moan once more. And then she started to move her mouth up and down, swirling her tongue around the tip every time she pulled back. Where did she learn this? And how did this happened? A few weeks ago she was blushing just by seeing him naked. And now she was working him into madness. The tingling feeling going down his spine made him almost scream. He clenched the blanket and panted, "If you don't stop now I'm going to come" The giggle and the vibrations made him gasp once more, but she didn't stop, instead the little minx started to move faster, working her hand at his root were her mouth didn't reach. And he let go, screaming her name. "Keilah, oh, gods that's good!". Then she was on top of him, cradled his face and looked right into his eyes.

"Am I still driving you crazy?" Despite being completely out of breath he managed to laugh.

"Yes you are, all the time, just in different ways." He really did love her, but he wasn't going to tell her that until he was sure she was ready, so he just kissed her nose.

"Did I work hard enough for you to be happy?" He flipped her around on her back.

"Hmm, I'll think about it, I'll let you know soon." And then he worked his mouth over her body leaving a trail of goosebumps as he worked his way down. The little temptress needed to learn a lesson. He carefully swept his tongue over one of her breasts and then the other. He could feel her responding to his touch, pressing herself against him. He put a hand on her hip,

"Slowly..."

"Vilkas, please." Her pleading voice made him laugh.

He moved down her stomach, licking her everywhere and then completely skipping her sex and started to kiss and lick her on the inside thigh, completely ignoring the areas she was pushing towards him.

"Damn it Vilkas!" she exclaimed, which made him laugh once again. He pressed his thumbs on the sides of her warmth with the hands cradling her behind and the he blew carefully over her seam. She screamed and when he parted her folds with his thumbs and carefully licked her bud she was almost whimpering.

Her smell was intoxicating, and even though he hadn't thought it possible so soon, he was getting hard again. He kept licking and exploring all of her and he could feel her legs shaking on his shoulders. He started to focus the attention to her clit and very carefully put one of his fingers to her entrance. The response came immediately.

"Ahh, Vilkas, yes, please!"

He rewarded her pleads by pushing two fingers in and pressed them to the roof of her vagina, while alternating circling and sucking her swollen, hard bud. He could feel a surge of wetness and her cramping around his fingers.

He got up on her and kissed her carefully on the cheek. She surprised him by pressing her mouth towards his, licking his lips, and with a sigh he rolled his hips and entered her.

It took them a while, he wanted to make it last but eventually they came together again. Every time they had sex it got better, he hadn't thought it possible after the first time.

"I like you a lot better when you are pleading than when you a screaming."

"I kind of like me better then as well. I'm sorry I ruined up your plans for my last night here."

"It's not your last night here."

"You know what I mean."

"You made it up to me, very properly. I'm afraid to ask where you've learned that."

"It's a secret. But it wasn't by practicing. I'm sorry I reacted the way I did, about the locker and... what you said. I panicked."

"I know, don't think about it. We'll do this at any speed that works for you. I'll be here when you are ready."

"Thank you for being so patient with me, Vilkas. I know I'm a mess when it comes to all this."

"Hey, that's my girl you're badmouthing, I'm not sure I like that. And like I said, don't worry about it. I'm not letting you go for being scared. It's just that both times that you have left it felt like my heart was breaking, I'm scared too, you know."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, just make sure that you come back."

When he woke the next morning, she was gone. He had no idea how she managed to go without waking him up. Farkas was in his room, sitting on a chair, he couldn't remembered when was the last time he had slept so soundly.

"She left something for you." Farkas said and pointed at the space next to him.

Vilkas turned around and looked at her pillow. It was a red mountain flower.

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><p>Fallon-Idalia: Thank you for both reviews. I think that her not being from Skyrim and not even knowing what a Dragonborn is would mean that she didn't saw all of as an honor. And also, thats a lot of responsibility, it would sure freak me out if it was me. Same thing with her being confused about relationship, it seems logical. And thank you for your kind words:)<p>

RavingSunshine: Ah, be nice to Vilkas, he's a bit out of his element with her and not really sure what to do. Your idea made me laugh, it wasn't that far off either.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I don't own Skyrim or any of the characters.

There are also two other things I would like to add: This story follows the outline of The Companions Quest in the game but I have added quite a few things and also changed or completely skipped other things. I have also changed some of the characters quite a lot since it fitted the story I wanted to write better. So please, keep that in mind if you haven't played the quest yet.

Second thing, this story is in the M section for a reason.

Finally: A massive thank you to my Beta Lorrain, she is awesome.

I have had some people asking me for in game pictures of Keilah. Unfortunately, I don't have a character named Keilah that looks anything like I have described her.

BUT, Lorrain is awesome in many ways and made some pictures of her. They were all great and one of the simply WAS Keilah, I tried to put the link in here using the html-function but the bloody thing keeps disappearing, if anyone has any bright ideas how to get it in here, let me know. For now, it is in my profile.

Thank you again Lorrain!

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><p>19<p>

Vilkas and Farkas were walking through the woods up the mountain. They weren't really tracking anything since they both knew that this was just an excuse to get out and talk.

"I guess you two are ok?" Farkas looked at Vilkas with a smile.

"Yes, thank you, again, for your help."

"I didn't do much, we just talked, not even about you. I tried to calm her down."

"You did." He was getting more and more grateful about how close Farkas and Keilah were. Whenever Vilkas lost it with Keilah, Farkas was there to calm her down, to talk to her.

"What was it about?"

"I asked her to move her things to my room. At least that was how it started"

"Really? I would have thought girls liked that." Vilkas had also thought that girls liked that - a lot of women had left things all over his bloody room. But then - was Keilah ever like other women? On the other hand; the way he acted around her wasn't how he usually acted around women either.

"Aye, I think I mostly scared her, and then I... said something when I got angry." He was studying Farkas' expression to see if it looked like Keilah had said anything to him. It didn't look like it.

"What did you say? Nothing bad I hope." No, he concluded, Keilah hadn't mentioned it. Farkas wouldn't pretend around him. Not in a situation like this.

"I told her I loved her." Farkas stopped and looked at him.

"And..." At first, Vilkas didn't really know what to say, he just shrugged.

"She freaked out, just walked out the door and was away for hours." Which freaked Vilkas out but there wasn't really any point in telling him that. Not to mention how furious it had made him that she just disappeared.

"Told you she would be hard."

"I know, but... she's just so afraid and I don't understand why."

"Just give her time, she's not used to people being around her. Besides, the only other person she let close died."

"True." Vilkas had been through all that in his mind hundreds of times. He had talked about it with Farkas before as well. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. "So, how about you and Brelyna?"

"Ahhh, not much to be honest, I like her, but I don't know, I don't even know if I'm going to meet her again. I think we'll just take it as it comes. She's a lot of fun though."

Farkas wouldn't tell him more about it at the time. Vilkas knew the signs and left that subject as well.

They spent three days out. He liked it, it was a good way to get over the very empty bed. But her smell still lingered in it when he came home and he still missed her. A lot.

He was standing in his room when Aela came in.

"Hey Vilkas, how are you doing?"

"Ok, I miss her, I hate it when she leaves."

Aela walked up to a chair and sat down, he sat down in the chair opposite her.

"I heard you two had quite the fight again. What happened?" Privacy, it would be lovely to have some, if for no other reason than to avoid talking about every argument or discussion ten times.

"I rushed, asked her to move her things into my room and yelled at her that I love her."

Aela just laughed. "Taking it slowly just isn't your style, not with with her. Vilkas, the man who used to dodge women trying to get closer?"

"I know, I'm like a lost puppy around her. Pathetic."

"It's not, I was like that with Skjor in the beginning as well and he with me. But we both had normal upbringings, she hasn't, her dad was the only person she had, she's been alone for two years, has never had a real home or friends. She's scared."

"I know all that, Aela." It would also be nice to not get the same bloody advice ten times over. Aela mentioning Skjor caught him off guard though. "Are you getting better?"

"In some ways, in some ways not at all. I still want to go after them, I want them eradicated from the face of Tamriel"

Vilkas knew the feeling. After seeing what they did to werewolves, torturing them, flaying them, he wanted them killed as well. But he also knew that they needed to be careful.

"You can't let revenge become your entire life Aela. You understand that, don't you?"

"I do, but it kills me that they are still out there, hunting. I'll get over it eventually." Vilkas had the feeling she wouldn't. She wasn't the kind of person to let things go.

"We would put ourselves and Jorrvaskr at great risk if you go after them, eventually they would strike back you know."

"I know that, Vilkas, don't worry." Vilkas wasn't too sure that Aela really did understand what he was saying. But decided to not push it at the moment.

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><p>A couple of weeks later he started to suspect Aela was up to no good, that she was going after the Silver Hands and he suspected that she didn't plan to go after them alone. Farkas had never been good at keeping secrets from him. He usually did it by completely avoiding Vilkas so he wouldn't have to lie. And Farkas was avoiding him.<p>

Aela and Farkas went out hunting or at least that was the official story but Vilkas was pretty sure that he knew _what_ they were hunting. He debated it with himself for a week before going to see Kodlak.

"Harbinger, do you have a moment?" He knocked at Kodlaks door and walked in. Kodlak was in his usual spot with a book in his hands.

"Yes of course, Vilkas, I'm just reading."

Vilkas walked up to the chair opposite him and sat down. It felt felt like he was betraying Aela and Farkas but he feared for all of the Companions. He wasn't sure if Aela was clear enough to understand the possible consequences of what she was doing and he knew Farkas hardly ever thought of the effects of his actions.

"What are you reading?" Vilkas knew he was staling, but he wasn't really ready yet, the smile on Kodlak's face revealed that he too knew what Vilkas was doing.

"_The Windhelm Letters_. Keilah reminded me of how much I used to love this book." Keilah had mentioned the book but only in passing.

"So she likes it?"

"She did, she found it here and asked if she could read it. It was apparently her mother's favorite book."

"I haven't read it." It would probably be a good book to read to her at night to get her to sleep. He loved reading to her almost as much as she loved him doing it.

"You should, you can have it when I'm done."

Vilkas just nodded, he wasn't sure were to begin.

"Vilkas, just say it, I know something has been bothering you for a while. Sometimes it's best to just say it bluntly, without beating around the bush." Kodlak gave him an encouraging smile.

"I think that Farkas and Aela are hunting the Silver Hands, I think they are putting us all at a great risk and that they might not be aware of it." He looked at his hands through the entire sentence and when he looked up he saw Kodlaks smile.

"I knew that, Vilkas. You of all should know that there is no privacy in this place. There are very few secrets."

Vilkas didn't know what to think. But he felt relived, he couldn't be accused of completely betraying them.

"Do you want me to talk to them?" There must be a reason to why Kodlak hadn't done it yet. But he couldn't think of what that was.

"Yes, I think it would be best if you did it. I didn't want to ask you but since you are offering." He said with a cunning smile. "Sometimes it is just better to let people think that they have gotten away with their trickery. I would want people to think I'm omniscient."

Vilkas just laughed, "I'm sure that when I'm old and wise as you are now I will understand what you meant by that."

"Just talk to them, I believe they are out tonight, they usually share a drink in Farkas' room when they come back."

Vilkas knew he shouldn't be surprised, Kodlak almost always knew everything that was going on in Jorrvaskr. But the fact that he knew everything in such detail did still surprise him.

"Is there anything you don't know?"

"Oh, there are quite a few things I don't know."

"I'm not so sure about that, Kodlak."

Vilkas went to Farkas room with the book he borrowed from Kodlak thinking he might as well read it while he waited for them. That way it would sound better when he read it to Keilah. Sometimes he could actually feel how it felt to have her in his arms and lost his breath because he missed her so much. He hadn't even dared to ask her how long she would be at the college. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. He sat down and started to read, he really hoped they wouldn't be long.

They came back just before dawn.

"Hi, Vilkas, what are you doing here?" Farkas only looked surprised but Aela looked worried.

"We need to talk." With a sigh Aela sat down. "You can't keep doing this."

"Why? We're only trying to avenge Skjor's death." Farkas didn't seem to understand the problem, but then again, Vilkas hadn't expected him to.

"Aela, you know why."

Another heavy sigh from her.

"Yes, I do."

"Ok, I know I'm not as smart as you two are so could someone just please fill me in." Farkas was starting to lose his patience. He hated when people talked over his head and Vilkas knew that.

"Going after the Silver Hands the way you two have been doing is putting us all at a great risk."

Farkas seemed genuinely surprised.

"I don't understand, we are trying to stop them."

"If we pressure them too much, they will eventually come to a point when they have nothing to lose and they might come after us here. Aela you knew this was a risk, we even talked about it."

Farkas sat down and looked at her. "Why didn't you tell me that he had already talked to him about it? You told me to keep it a secret from Vilkas because you thought he wouldn't like the idea. You didn't tell me that he had already warned you about it."

"I'm sorry Farkas, I tricked you. I shouldn't have done that."

"You _need_ to stop Aela." Vilkas wasn't sure if he was getting through to her. She needed to understand that she couldn't continue.

"I can't stand them, being alive, being out there, just waiting for us, to flay the next one!" She mostly sounded broken, which eased his worry. She knew that what she was doing was wrong. If she had sounded angry he would have been more worried.

"I know, but this isn't the solution, you can just go after them like some crazy person, you can't make revenge your only purpose in life. You have to stop."

"Would you? Would you be able to stop if that had been Keilah?" He had expected her to bring Keilah up. He hadn't really found a good response yet.

Vilkas thought about that. Would he? If someone had hurt Keilah would he ever be able to stop hunting them?

"I don't know, Aela, I would probably react just like you are doing now. But I would want you to do what I'm doing now, if the tables were turned."

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. So he walked up to her and took her in his arms.

"I'm sorry, Vilkas, and Farkas, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have tricked you." She walked over to Farkas as well but he didn't say anything.

They stayed up talking for hours. Vilkas wasn't sure that Aela would really stop, but she would at least take it easy for a while and maybe some time was what she needed to see the error of her actions. When she went to bed he and Farkas stayed up and talked for a while longer.

"There aren't that many forts with them left. In one of the first places we went to there was a book with their plans and a map of all their forts."

"Are you angry with her?"

"Nah, I knew something was off. But I kind of felt the way she did. They didn't deserve to live for what they did to Skjor. I'll let her think I'm upset with he for a while. She is usually very sweet when she thinks you're upset with her."

Vilkas laughed. "That's not very gentleman-like of you."

"I know, but it does give her something else to thing about for a while. How are you doing, brother?" Sometimes Vilkas had the feeling that Farkas was a lot smarter than he was giving him credit for. But then he usually did something really stupid again.

"Fine, what do you mean?"

"About Keilah, you don't seem as down as last time she was away, but you're still grumpy."

"I don't know. She sent a letter saying she'll be back in about a month. So I guess we're halfway there again."

"Why don't you go and meet her there?" Vilkas just looked at his brother.

"I have no idea why I didn't think of that!" He sat still for a while, just thinking of how brilliant that idea was. "I'm impressed! You don't think she will be bothered if I come?"

"Oh come on, sometimes you are just pathetic when it comes to her. Just go get her!"

"You're right, I'm sorry, I just don't want to pressure her." He knew he acted pathetic, but he was very uncertain where her borders lay and what would send her over the edge. He hadn't thought that moving a locker would be such a huge problem but apparently it was.

"You are being absolutely ridiculous."

"I know. Would you like to come, It would give you a chance to see Brelyna again?"

"No, no offense, but I really don't want to travel with you and Rabbit, you two aren't very quiet." Farkas said the last part with a very smug smile.

"What?"

"Oh come on, you banged her against your door, and she is, well, you are obviously making her a very happy girl."

Vilkas could feel his cheeks blush. "I'm sorry, I... eh... I never thought of that." He really should have, he had heard Farkas often enough, and he knew that Farkas had heard him before as well.

"It wouldn't be very good sex if you _did_ think about it. Don't worry about it."

What he would give for some bloody privacy. There were new reminders of the lack of thereof every day. "I would really like some privacy, just for a little while."

"Well, traveling alone with her would give you that."

"True."

"You could buy a house."

"Farkas, I can't even get her to move her things from a locker into my room, I really doubt buying a house is going to make her all giggly and happy."

"Ah, yes, you're probably right about that."

"But I am going to go meet her. That way I don't have to worry about her traveling home alone."

"You really worry about her traveling alone?"

"Yes. I know she's capable, and that she's been doing that for two years and all those things. I still don't like the idea of her alone." He didn't, he wouldn't tell her that though. It would probably be better to just tell her that he missed her like crazy. It wouldn't be a lie.

"You should go by Windhelm as well."

"We'll see."

The more he thought about it the better idea he thought it was. It would also get him a chance to see that J'zargo, just introduce himself to him. He knew he could be very intimidating if he wanted to.

"What's with that smile?"

"There's a Khajiit at the college who is apparently trying very hard to get Keilah into bed."

A smile started to spread in Farkas face as well.

"Oh, so you thought that maybe you could introduce yourself to him?"

"Something like that. But not just that, I'd like to see the school too. It would be nice to see her life there as well."

"Boy, you really got it bad."

"I do, I just hope she'll be catching up."

"I think she already is, she's just scared to admit it."

Farkas was most likely right and Vilkas knew it. Treading carefully would be the best approach.

* * *

><p>Three weeks passed, Aela stayed calm, she didn't go out hunting and after a week Farkas admitted he wasn't angry with her anymore. She seemed better but Vilkas noticed something in her eyes now and then. He talked to Kodlak about it but Kodlak said it wasn't anything less than he expected.<p>

He didn't mention his conversation with Kodlak to Aela but did talk to Farkas about it. Farkas was mostly afraid that Kodlak was mad at them and finally went to talk with him. He seemed relieved when he came out so Vilkas assumed it all went fine. Kodlak was very good at calming people down. In a house full of warriors who drank more than they should, you sort of had to be good at it.

Kodlak, Athis and Farkas were with him when he saddled the horse to go to Keilah. He hadn't told her that he was coming, he wanted it to be a surprise.

"Say hi to her from us."Farkas said

"I'm planning on taking her here you know."

"Still, say hi."

"You take care now and watch out." Kodlak smiled.

"Any words of wisdom from you Athis?"

"Don't yell 'I love you' while arguing." Athis said with a blank face.

"Ah, thank you so much, Athis."

"Just saying." He said with a shrug. There was, as usual, no way of knowing if he was serious.

"I'm not going to argue with her."

"Don't be silly, you always argue, the you make up, very loudly." Farkas said with a smile.

* * *

><p>Thank you all for reading, favs and alerts, you people make me happy!<p>

Lorrain: You should be!

ninja awesome monkey: Thank you so much! And of course I respond to the reviews, considering how happy they make me, it feels like the least I can do. I'm sort of working on Farkas and Aela. I'm honestly not sure yet, but we'll see.

Evalyne: They sure are, Betas I mean!Personally I don't see any reason why she shouldn't just move in:-)

RavingSunshine: Oh, I'm sorry, I hope I'm not ruining the experience for you! It will totally be worth it if you marry Vilkas though, he'll call you the sweetest things.

mupp3tbab3h: Thank you! I hope you like the rest as well. The part with the giant actually was in the game when I played. But comparing this game with anyone else never works, it is just too big and awesome, it is never the same for two people. The magic and sword has worked really well for me. The first chapter was hard, I decided to put my hope in peoples patience rather than rush the story. I seems to have worked:-)


	20. Chapter 20

_Disclaimer. I don't own Skryim or any of the characters. Bethesda does._

_Thank you for reading and for the favs and alerts!_

_A very special thank you to my Beta-reader, the awesome and very quick (you should all thank her for that), Lorrain. Any remaining misspellings or flaws are my mine fault._

* * *

><p>20<p>

He arrived to Winterhold late in the afternoon. It wasn't hard to find the college since by far it was the biggest building in town. A very worn and partially broken bridge led up to the gate but when he came up he encountered a woman guarding the passage.

"If you want to apply to the college you will have to prove your capabilities." This surprised him, would she really try stop him?

"I'm not applying to the college, I'm here to see someone." Keilah hadn't mentioned if they allowed visitors or not, but he had assumed they did.

"Are you expected?" She said with a snort.

"No, it was going to be a surprise. She doesn't know I'm coming."

"Who?"

"Keilah." When he said her name the woman took a more careful look at him and gave him a smile.

"Your name?"

"Vilkas."

"Brelyna was right, you are huge, it is hard to believe that your brother is actually bigger."

"He is, can I come in?"

"Of course, follow me. At this hour she is probably in the Arcanaeum, she spends most of her free time there."

"Is that the library?"

"Yes, she works very hard. The librarian adores her, she is the only one he leaves in there alone."

They walked into a round courtyard with doors on both sides but the woman just continued forward and he followed her. Then he heard a scream from his right.

"Vilkas! Is that really you?"

He turned around to see Brelyna running towards him.

"Oh, hi!"

"She didn't tell me you were coming to pick her up."

"She doesn't know."

"Wow, she's going to love this. She's in the Arcanaeum as usual. I'll take you there. Thank you, Faralda, I can take him to Keilah."

They walked through the door and in the bigger room inside he saw a huge blue glowing orb.

"What is that?" He had never seen anything like it.

"Nobody knows to be honest. It was Keilah and Tolfdir who found it. They are still trying to figure it out."

That was when a Khajiit walked up to them, "Brelyna, have you seen Keilah?"

'Oh, this is just... great!' Vilkas thought and could feel how a big smile was spreading over his face. Brelyna answered the cat.

"No, but I do doubt that Keilah wants to see you J'zargo, I would have thought that the right hook she hit you with the other day would've been a hint." That made Vilkas chuckle, he really did love that girl.

"Oh, she'll come around."

"Oh, I almost forgot, J'zargo, this is Vilkas. Vilkas this is J'zargo." Vilkas gave him his most wolf-like smile and held out his hand. And if he wasn't mistaken the cat backed up and looked very frightened. It was definitely a good idea to come here. Him being a wolf and this cat being a... well, a cat, would mean that this khajiit's natural instincts told him to be afraid. And he really wanted the cat to fear him.

A door behind them opened letting in the wind which brought him Keilah's smell so he turned around. She was carrying a stack of books and looked very annoyed when she saw J'zargo by the door. Then her beautiful black eyes fell on him.

Keilah was not happy about seeing J'zargo. Two days earlier his profanities had actually reached heights she hadn't even known existed and she had gotten tired of it. She punched him in the face and felt really damn good about it. The idiot could apparently not take a hint, or a direct hit, and was still following her around. She noticed his very frightened look and followed his line of sight... it wasn't possible, she suspected that she had finally gone insane from missing him. Then he smiled.

"Hi girl!" he put out his arms out, even then it took her a second be able to move.

"Vilkas!" She dropped the books and ran up to him. "What are you doing here?"

He lifted her up, she could feel him taking a deep breath to smell her thoroughly. "I'm picking you up, I didn't want you to travel alone. Before you say anything, I know you can take care of your self but I missed you."

"J'zargo! I think this would be a good time for you to get lost." It was Brelyna, when J'zargo took off she turned to them. "I'm going to get lost as well. I'll see you two later, loads of wine and food in your room tonight, Keilah."

Keilah just waved at her since she couldn't take her eyes of Vilkas. "I am so happy to see you!" She put her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. The kiss got deeper and finally she broke free "Gods, I have missed that!"

"I have missed you too girl, and your kisses, and some other things as well." He gave her a smile and she immediately blushed. That made him laugh.

"I missed your blushing as well. All in all, I have missed pretty much everything about you." He hugged her closer and drew a deep breath in her hair.

"That's a good thing." She looked up at him and smiled and he leaned in for another kiss.

"I'd say that's a very good thing."

"I can't leave today, so you are going to have to stay here, at least until tomorrow."

"Hmm, can I sleep in your bed?"

"Yes of course. However, do you remembered what I said about the lack of doors in the Hall of Attainment?"

"Hall of Attainment?"

"The student living quarters."

Keilah saw the look of disbelief in his eyes, "You were serious about that? I thought you were joking just to tease me."

"I wasn't, there are no doors."

"Gods!" He hugged her closer.

"And the bed is a single bed, so you are going to be very close to me all night."

He groaned into her hair, "You are killing me."

"Oh, I think we can figure something out." She gave him a smile and he kissed her hard again. "I need to get those books I left on the floor. If Urag finds them there I well never be allowed to borrow another book." She let go of him and he walked with her to help her pick up the books.

"They said you spend almost all your free time in the Arcanaeum, is that true?" He looked at her as they both knelt to pick up the books on the floor.

"Yes."

"I hope this is not only for Kodlaks sake, he wouldn't want you to wear yourself out." She leaned over and kissed him again and looked him straight into the eyes.

"I'm not Vilkas, a lot of the time I spend there is for school work. I tend to miss some classes since I run off to spend time with you every third month. But I'm not complaining so don't worry about it."

"Ok, I'm not worrying about it, I promise, and I'm not going to complain because I want you to come and spend time with me as often as possible."

"Good." They got up. "Come with me and I'll show you my room, you can leave your things there."

They walked out and turned to the left and entered through another door. They stopped at the first arch to the right.

"This is my room."

He looked around, she had made an effort to make it homey. He looked at her and smiled.

"I like it."

She sighed like she had been holding her breath until he gave her his judgment, he walked up to her and took her in his arms. "I like it a lot." He kissed her. He couldn't get enough of her at the moment and felt the need to touch her and kiss her whenever he looked at her. 'More so than usual' he thought to himself.

"You can put your things anywhere."

He walked into her room and put his backpack on a chair, when he turned around he saw that she had the strangest look on her face.

"What's with the face?" He walked up to her again.

"It's just strange, to see you here. And wonderful." She put her arms around him. "I've spent so much time thinking about you in this room, to finally see you in it... is... wonderful."

He kissed her again and as the kiss got deeper he felt that he never in his life wished for anything more than he wished for a door at the moment. With a gasp he tore himself away from her lips.

"If you were serious about figuring something out regarding the lack of a door, I would love to hear it."

She had a teasing look in her eyes. "Maybe you should leave some of your armor here?"

He took of the heaviest pieces of his armor, when he turned around she wasn't at the door but soon showed up with a coat.

"Here, I borrowed it from Onmund, it's thicker than yours."

"Are we going outside?"

"Yes."

"How is that going to help?"

"It will at least cool us down." She said with a smile and he had to laugh when she turned around and walked off with excessively swaying hips. He caught up with her and put his arm around her waist.

"That is not going to help you know."

They walked outside and through the door to the big room again. An older man came towards them.

"Ah, Keilah, there you are."

"Tolfdir, I was just going to find you."

"Good, good, I have your assignments here, for when you are away." The older man, apparently named Tolfdir, looked up at Vilkas, "And who is this gentleman?"

"This is Vilkas."

"A Companion just like you I assume?"

"Yes." Vilkas said and took the hand Tolfdir was holding out.

"Would you be the reason that Keilah is running off now and then?"

"Yes, I probably am."

"It is nice to meet you." And then he turned to Keilah. "I will see you in a month. Please try to stay out of trouble."

"I will do my best."

"Nonsense, you look for it, and when you don't it comes to find you. But stay safe." With a smile he left them.

Vilkas smiled at Keilah. "It seems I'm not the only one worrying about you."

"I think it is because of my size. No one ever tells you to stay out of trouble." She said with a pout. She was definitely trying to kill him.

They kept walking and after about ten minutes he was completely lost. They had been going up stairs and through corridors and they were currently in a very narrow passage.

"Girl, do you have any idea were we are?"

"Of course, I go through here sometimes when I need to be alone."

"Like you do sometimes at Jorrvaskr as well?"

She turned around and glanced at him "You've noticed that?"

"Of course." He caught up with her and pressed her against the wall. "I always notice when you are not around."

Keilah had been doing her very best not to look at him, the look in his eyes was a mirror of her own. They were driving each other insane and she wanted to get him outside so they could cool down. She wasn't sure if it was going to help but at least the cold would make her think twice before ripping of her clothes in front of him.

She slipped and looked right at him, in heartbeat he had her pinned against the wall.

"Are we going to be disturbed here?"

"It's not impossible so we should probably stick to kisses." He groaned and slid his hand under her robe and tunic, stroking the small of her back. When his hand went down to caress her behind she groaned and started to search for the lining of his pants. He laughed into her mouth.

"It's nice to see I'm not the only one being impatient." he said and she couldn't help smiling, Vilkas was usually not very impatient, he usually drove her insane with his patience.

"You can at least say that you usually are patient." She murmured into his mouth. "I'm always like this." She finally managed to get her hand around his cock and smiled when he groaned. Seconds later it was her turn when his fingers were parting her folds and found her bud.

"Vilkas, we have to stop." She pushed him on in the chest and managed to remove her hands from his pants.

"I know, I'm sorry. But, two months!"

Suddenly the door to the corridor opened and J'zargo walked through the door, when he saw them he halted with a surprised look on his face. Then he turned around and walked out again. Keilah and Vilkas glanced at each other and burst into laughter at the same time.

"Vilkas, what did you say to him?"

"Nothing, I just introduced myself."

"Just admit it, you gave him a look!"

"Maybe, but I smiled while doing it. From what I heard you punched him."

"I did, he deserved it though." She wasn't the slightest bit embarrassed about punching J'zargo, she actually smiled when she thought about it and when she looked up, Vilkas kissed her.

"I'm very proud of you, that way I didn't have to punch him."

Vilkas was very happy about her punching the cat, not that it seemed to have stopped him from following her around, but it made him feel better that he had received a blow for talking dirty to her.

"Come on, lets get up on the roof."

"Why the roof?"

"It's beautiful, and cold, we need cold."

They were sitting on the roof looking at the most beautiful northern lights Vilkas had ever seen. It was moving in waves over the sky, changing color every now and then.

"I love how they sound." Keilah said. "Like sparks."

"Are you getting cold?"

"A little, we should probably get inside. Onmund and Brelyna were going to come by my room later."

* * *

><p>Vilkas woke up in the middle of the night. He was still slightly drunk from the wine they had shared with Onmund and Brelyna. Keilah was lying next to him, her back to him, with her head on his arm. Her smell filled his nose and that was all it took to get him hard. He listened around for a couple of minutes and decided that everyone was sleeping. Just slow breathing and even heartbeats as far as he could hear.<p>

He put his other arm around her waist and pulled her closer while silently kissing her shoulder and neck. She moaned in her sleep and he moved his hand up underneath her tunic and carefully pinched her nipple. She finally woke up.

"Vilkas?"

"Shhh" he whispered in her ear, when she turned her head towards him he kissed her, explored her mouth with his tongue. She tore her head away and whispered to him.

"This isn't fair."

He leaned against her ear. "Everyone is sleeping, you are going have to be very quiet though." Then he slipped his hand in her panties.

Keilahs head was spinning. "I'm not sure I can." When his finger found her sensitive spot she hissed, immediately his mouth covered hers to swallow her moaning. Her back was still against his stomach and she could feel how hard he was against her behind. She reached back to take him in her hand and when she felt him pulsate, she moaned once again. She tried to turn around but he just pulled her firmer against him.

"Stay still." He said as he pulled her undergarment down, using his feet for the last part and she could feel him continuing with his own. He pulled her against him again and lifted her upper leg over his thigh and she hooked her foot behind his knee. Then his finger moved down to her bud.

He started kissing her again, covering her entire mouth. She felt his cock seeking entrance from behind, closing her eyes she tried to focus on not screaming. When she felt the tip enter her she pushed back to feel all of him inside her. She could hear him, trying to hold back a loud moan. His mouth left hers and he moved it to her ear.

"You are killing me."

His hand never left her clit, rubbing it mercilessly. The rubbing in combination with the tension that had been building up the entire day ensured that the orgasm was already on its way. She tried her very best to not scream and Vilkas seemed to notice her predicament. He bent the arm she was lying on and put his hand over her mouth with a smile, her head still turned so she could see him.

He started to thrust harder and faster, kissing her shoulder and neck. Then it hit her, wave after wave of the orgasm rolled over her body. She tore his hand from her clit since the pleasure almost became painful. He put the hand on her hip, pulling her toward him with every thrust. She could feel him expanding and suddenly he bit down in her neck and squeezed the hand over her mouth harder to stop her scream.

Vilkas could feel her body relax in his arms and he loosened the grip around her. She turned around completely and looked at him.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" he whispered.

"No, not at all." She said with a smile and kissed him carefully.

"I didn't mean to bite you, but it was either that or screaming out loud."

"It's ok. I kind of liked it." The statement made him startled and then he laughed.

"Kinky!"

"Stop it." She put her arm around his waist and he kissed the top of her head.

"Go back to sleep, girl."

* * *

><p><em>I grew up above the polar circle, with Northern Lights, I usually get to see them every year when I visit my parents, but boy, do I miss them! The in-game northern lights are actually pretty close to real ones, the really big ones I mean, there are of course smaller. They don't change color the way they can do and they have totally missed the sound. If you're in the middle of nowhere you can actually hear them.<em>

_There is a picture of Keilah, made by Lorrain, in my profile. It is awesome!_

_Mupp3tbab3h: I though it was necissary, I didn't want anyone to feel sorry for Farkas :)_

_ninja awesome monkey: hahaha, I actually didn't mean it like that, but since you're not the only person jumping to the conclusion I guess I was a bit unclear, but we'll see ;)_

_RavingSunshine: Good to hear, I would hate to ruin it for someone. I think most Companions are pretty harsh in the beginning. Love the paraphrasing! It does sum it up pretty well._


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer: I do not own The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Bethesda does._

_Massive thank you to Lorrain for Beta reading, you rule! Any remaining errors are on me._

_Next update will probably not be until next weekend, there's just a lot at work right now. Doesn't work always seem to keep you from the important things in life?_

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><p>21<p>

They were back at Jorrvaskr and Keilah was sitting opposite Kodlak in his room. It was just the two of them and she noticed that the old man had a glow in his eyes that she hadn't seen before.

"Are you sure about this, Keilah?"

"No, there's no way to be sure, but it ads up. If we compare the information you've had and what I've found, this should be the answer."

"There are still some things we need."

"Do you know how we would be able to enter Ysgramor's tomb? Or even where it is? As far as I can see that is where your spirits rest, hence the place where the spirit of the Companions is the strongest. It would be the best place to do it."

"So you don't think it would be possible to persuade the witches to give us the cure to lycanthropy? We would actually have to cut of one of their heads and then fight the werewolf spirit? That would be the only way?" Kodlak didn't sound too happy about the idea.

"I don't know, I guess I could try. I have talked to Urag about it. The Glenmoril Witches are not pleasant people. He said there were two other ways to cure it. One requires that the werewolf slaughters an innocent, the other - he didn't know what it was. I also have the feeling that just walking into one of their covens would be reason enough for them to attack me. I could try to talk to them. But I think we are left with the third option anyway."

"No, they would probably kill you before you even finished the sentence. I know where the tomb is, but to open it we need all the shards of the Wuuthrad."

"Are there many pieces missing?"

"No. That would be the upside of Aela and Farkas raids against the Silver Hands, they found the last shards. We have all of them and I'm sure Erlond can mend the ax."

Vilkas had told Keilah about the raids and she was glad that something really good had come out of them. Something good other than Aelas peace of mind, but she wasn't sure Aela regained that yet.

"We would need one head per person. And to do it one at a time, I would think that one werewolf spirit at a time is quite enough even if there are several of us."

They were both sitting quiet for a while.

"I heard that you had told Vilkas that you were helping me."

"Yes."

"Have you told him that you might have found a cure?" She hadn't, they had actually only talked about him being a werewolf once.

"No. I'm not sure I'm the right person to do it, Kodlak"

"Why wouldn't you be?"

"We had a discussion a while back. He seem to have thought that I found it... uncomfortable that he was a werewolf."

"Uncomfortable? Was that really the word he used?"

"Hrm, no, he used the word 'repulsive'."

"Oh."

"We talked about it, I told him that it didn't matter to me. But I'm afraid that if I tell him about the cure, and keep in mind we're not sure if it works yet, that he'll feel pressured to do it for my sake."

"I see what you mean. There is probably no point in mentioning it until we know for sure. We need to find the Witches and get the heads. I'm not too keen on sending you alone though."

"I don't mean to be rude, Kodlak, but I don't think you should come with me." He might be a warrior of great renown but he was also a very old man. She would prefer not to bring someone she would be worried about.

"No, I wouldn't be much use. But I was hoping that you would take someone with you."

"If we're not supposed to tell anyone it would be very hard to explain why I suddenly have the urge to collect witch-heads."

"Yes, I know."

She thought about it for a moment, but she couldn't think of anyone to bring. Someone who didn't ask questions.

"I'll be fine Kodlak. I'll just take one head and then get out as soon as possible. If it works, we can always go back for more heads with more people. By then there won't be a need to keep it a secret. Besides, I'm not sure I want to store them for any longer periods of time."

A sudden knock at the door startled both of them, then Kodlak yelled.

"Yes?"

The door opened and Aela came in.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to disturb you two."

"It's ok, Aela," Keilah said. "I'm on my way."

She gave Aela a smile as she walked by, just when she passed, Aela said. "Vilkas is looking for you."

She walked out and stumbled into Njada. 'Oh great, just what I needed." she thought to herself. Her least favorite person in the world.

"So, done sucking up to Kodlak now?"

Keilah was usually not a person who avoided confrontations with people. If someone was rude or mean she pretty much told them what she thought of them. But Njada was a whole different story, she knew that whatever the problem was, an argument wasn't going to fix it. Njada wouldn't like her any better after the argument and would still be rude because she simply enjoyed tormenting Keilah. So she had just stuck to the tactic of avoiding her all together, which had probably made Njada think that she was afraid of her.

This time however, Keilah was not in the mood to avoid her.

"Why don't you just shut your ugly face Njada."

"Vilkas didn't think it was that ugly when I was comforting him." Keilah was mostly surprised that Njada hadn't tried to use that trick with her earlier. There had been mores subtle hints before, but this was the first time she had said it, more or less, flat out.

"I really don't care what goes on inside your head."

"Oh, it wasn't in my head, he was all heartbroken and pathetic when he found out you had been whoring around in Windhelm, so I helped keep his mind of things." She had a very smug smile and suddenly Keilah wasn't too sure. According to Farkas, Vilkas actually had been a mess at the time. Not mentioning how angry he had been with her when she came back. On the other hand, there was no way she would let this bitch see that she got to her.

"Well, now I just feel insulted. If I had known his taste was that bad I would have stayed away." And the she bit down in her cheeks and walked out. She was not going to let Njada see how upset she was.

Njada screamed something after her but Keilah wouldn't turn around. She walked up to the wall and found her usual ledge.

She knew she didn't really have any right to be upset about it if it was true, and she still wasn't convinced it was. But if it was true it was down right hypocritical of him have been angry at her about those stupid proposals.

Vilkas saw Keilah walk out and towards the wall. He knew she used to hide there sometimes but he didn't know where. She looked extremely upset and he doubted that it was Kodlak who had done that to her.

"Vilkas." He turned around and saw Ria looking at him with an anxious expression.

"Hi Ria, you ok?"

"I know this isn't really my business..." Vilkas sighed, if he had received a golden coin every time someone in the Companions had said that too him, he would be a filthy rich man.

"What?"

"I was in the sleeping quarters and overheard a conversation between Njada and Keilah."

That would be the explanation to Keilah's upset expression. Sometimes he just wanted to kill that whore. Couldn't she just leave Keilah alone?

"Yes, and?"

"Njada said that you two had been..." It took Vilkas a few seconds to understand what she was implying.

"What! When?"

"When you were upset about the marriage proposals, she said she, hrm, comforted you."

"That stupid slut."

"Keilah seemed ok, she just said that if she knew that your taste was that bad she would have stayed away. I don't think she meant it but I think she might be more upset than she let on. I just thought you should know..." Vilkas interrupted her.

"Do you know where Athis is?"

"What? Athis?"

"Yes, Athis, the elf!" He continued impatiently, how hard was that question?

He needed Athis because he knew that Athis had talked to her when they fought about her locker - she had mentioned it later. He really wanted to talk to her now and Athis was the only one who knew where she was.

"Oh, yes, he was sleeping, he was out late last night chasing that escaped prisoner." Vilkas was on his way downstairs before she even finished the sentence and yelled "Thank you, Ria" over his shoulder. He would have to thank her more properly later.

He ran into the bedroom and over to Athis bed, shaking his shoulder Vilkas said, "Athis, wake up, I need your help."

Athis just turned around to face the wall. "Later Vilkas, I was up half the night."

"Please, Athis, I need to find Keilah. Where is it she usually hides? I know you know where it is."

Athis sat up in the bed and with a sleepy look. "Have you been fighting again, because if you have it is probably better if you just leave her be for a while, she'll be back."

"No, no, that's not it, I think Njada upset her and I need to talk to her."

"Bitch!" Athis had never had much love for Njada, they were usually constantly at each others throats. Vilkas had a suspicion that Athis liked Keilah more for the fact that Njada didn't, rather than because he thought she was a nice person.

Athis got up, "I'll show you."

They walked up to the wall, he pointed and said. "Over there, there's a ledge if you look down, that's at least where I found her the last time. It's just a few feet down and pretty big so you'll be able to climb down there as well."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

He looked over the edge to where Athis had pointed, he already knew she was there, he could smell her. She was sitting with her knees under her chin, leaning against the wall. When he climbed down she twitched and looked up at him.

"Hi girl."

"Hi." He saw her drying her cheeks with her sleeve. He was going to smash that whores head in when he got a hold of her.

"Ria told me what Njada said to you. I know you go here when you want to be alone and I promise to never disturb you here again but I really needed to talk to you."

He sat down next to her and felt very relived when she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"It's not true." That was the only thing he could think of at the moment.

"Ok."

"Do you believe me?"

"Yes."

"She did try, while I was upset, but I told her I wasn't interested."

Keilah looked up at him. "Bitch." He put his arm behind her and pulled her closer.

Keilah did believe him. It was very much Njada to say something like that too her and she wasn't sure why she even for a second thought it was true. Maybe because it was something she was afraid of, that he would get tired of her and leave her for someone who didn't have relationship issues.

But she should have remembered that it was one of the things he had yelled at her, that time when they argued, that he had stayed faithful to her. Considering how angry he was it would have been more likely that he had yelled the opposite if it had been the truth.

"You shouldn't make promises that you can't keep, you know." He looked at her and frowned.

"When have I done that? I will stay faithful to you." She smiled at that, he had never actually promised that, but she liked to hear it.

"I know, that's not what I meant. You said you wouldn't come look for me here again. You know as well as I do that next time we argue and I walk away this will be the first place you look."

He laughed. "Probably. It would be safer for you to find some other place."

"I already have another place."

"Sneaky." He kissed her on her forehead.

"You said Ria told you what happened."

"Yes, remind me to thank her properly later, I just ran off and she deserved better than that."

"I will."

* * *

><p>Later that evening Keilah walked up to Ria during dinner.<p>

"Hi, is it ok if I sit here?" She pointed at the chair next to Ria.

"Yes, of course."

Keilah sat down on the chair. She wasn't really sure where to start. She had never been very close to Ria, she liked her, but since she started to study at the college, she had lost contact with some of the other Companions. There just didn't seem to be enough time for all of them. And when she was in Whiterun she spent most of the time with Vilkas.

"I just wanted to say 'thank you', for talking to Vilkas today."

Ria looked surprised.

"Oh, you're welcome. I knew she was lying, I was there when she did her very best to get him into bed. So, if you're still unsure, I can tell you that nothing happened."

"Thank you."

"Besides, I don't like her." Ria said with a smile. "You know, she warned me when I became a Companion. Told me to stay away from Vilkas."

That made Keilah smile. "She warned me too."

"Bitch. I'm glad you caught his eye. It must have been driving her insane." Ria was giggling by the time she finished the sentence. "Probably still does."

"I'm sorry I haven't talked that much to you. It's just..."

"I know, you're always busy. Besides, whenever you are here Vilkas is never far away. That must be driving Njada insane as well."

"You really don't like her."

"She's impossible to like. She has never even talked to me. She's completely ignoring me."

"I think that might be better though. I would prefer it if she ignored me too."

Vilkas walked up to them. "Hi."

"Like I said, never far away." Ria laughed and the comment made Keilah laugh as well.

She wished she had made more of an effort to get to know Ria, she was really nice. Then she suddenly got an idea. Ria wasn't the kind of person who asked unnecessary questions, but she would still have to talk to Kodlak first.

"I'll talk to you later."

"Ok. I look forward to it." Ria smiled.

Definitely a nice person, Keilah concluded. She took Vilkas hand and they walked off.

"What was that about?" Vilkas asked.

"The laughter?"

"Yes."

"I thanked her for her help and then I said I was sorry that I haven't really talked to her. She said it was ok, that I was always busy and whenever I was here, you were never far away."

They were on the stairs, Vilkas was one step ahead when he turned around. Even though he was below her, she was still shorter than him, that made her laugh.

"What now?"

"It's just, you're so tall and I'm so short. Even now I'm still shorter than you."

"I like your size."

"Good, cause I don't think it's going to change much." She kissed him.

"Does it bother you that I'm never far away?"

"No."

"Good." He said with teasing eyes. "Cause I don't think that is going to change much either."

* * *

><p>They were lying in bed, Keilah on his arm with her arm over his chest. The arm she was on was carefully stroking her back. According to Aela, the best time to bring up things men didn't like was after sex. Aela had been right about a lot of other things when it came to men so she was going to test that particular statement now.<p>

"I need to tell you something." He turned his head to look at her.

"Hmm, you have that voice. I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"No."

"Ok, tell me."

"I need to leave for a couple of days, there's something I need to do, for Kodlak." Vilkas had very watchful eyes.

"And I can't come with you." It wasn't even a question. She sighed.

"No."

"Are you going alone?"

"I was actually going to ask Kodlak if I could bring Ria."

"Ria?"

"I like her and I would like to get to know her better. But also because she's not the kind of person who asks questions if you ask her not to."

He turned towards her and put his other arm around her as well, his face was very close to hers.

"You were right."

"About what?"

"I don't like it."

"Are you going to argue with me now?" She really hoped he wasn't, she didn't want to argue. It wouldn't change anything anyway. She would still go and he wouldn't come with her.

"No."

"Are you going to ask me a lot of questions and demand to know what I'm up to?" She wouldn't answer any of them anyway. But she had expected him to try.

"No, not if you do me a favor." She noticed the very teasing look in his eyes and had a feeling that the favor might be something she liked as well.

"Really? What favor?" He pushed her on her back and was on top of her with a very triumphant smile. She was sure she was going to like this.

"You could let me move your locker in here while you're away." And before she could say anything he kissed her. Then he started kissing her neck and collarbone, all the way down to her breast.

"You're not playing fair." He let go of her nipple and looked at her.

"I know. But neither are you, I really doubt you told me about this just after sex by coincidence." His statement made her blush. Darn, she should have known he would see through that.

"No." He kissed her again.

"So tell me, who's teaching you all of these nasty tricks?"

She pulled him down for another kiss before answering. "Aela."

"I had a feeling it was her." He laid down next to her again and hugged her. "I'm going to miss you, even if it's just a couple of days. Let me know what Kodlak says about Ria, I would feel slightly less agitated if there was someone with you."

Vilkas sighed, he didn't need to ask what it was about. As far as he knew there was only one thing she was doing for Kodlak. He didn't want to pressure her, if she wasn't telling him what she was doing, and admitted she wasn't telling him what she was doing, she probably had a reason. He still didn't like it.

"Vilkas." He looked down at her and kissed her nose.

"Yes."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not going crazy about it, for not asking me questions you know I can't answer."

"You should probably thank Aela for that." To himself he admitted that he should probably thank Aela as well. They might have argued, but the result would still have been the same. Keilah wouldn't have told him anything and he still would have been left behind, he knew that.

"I know, but thank you anyway." As a response he hugged her closer.

"Go to sleep now, I'll read to you." He reached out for the book he was currently reading to her and started.

Suddenly he heard her heart beating faster and he felt her moving and looked down at her. She was watching him with the strangest face.

"You know, you won't fall asleep with your eyes open." She smiled but still had the same strange look.

He frowned.

"What?" She shook her head. "Tell me!" This was very odd but he wasn't annoyed, merely confused.

She got up on her elbow and put her hand on his cheek. "I just..."

"I won't get mad, just tell me." She leaned in and kissed him for a long time, still with her hand on his cheek. He put down the book on the bed pulled her closer. Then she looked him again, straight into his eyes and smiled.

"I love you too, Vilkas."

He froze and then felt a smile spreading over his face, he looked into those beautiful black eyes that sometimes took his breath away and kissed her again. She broke the kiss and hugged him.

"And yes, you can move my locker in here while I'm away." That made him laugh.

"Good, I would have done it even if you hadn't said that I could."

"Keep reading now."

"Ok." He kissed her on top of her head and picked up the book again.

* * *

><p><em>Thank you, again, for the favs and alerts! <em>

_I don't know who's in charge of it but a huge thank you to whoever added Vilkas to the Character-list!_

_Temerice: Kiitos! I hope you enjoyed the rest of the story as well and that your plans worked out despite the late night._

_SharonH: I didn't have a Beta for quite a few of the chapters, the one I have now have gone through the entire story, but I haven't done the updates yet. She's a lot faster and more efficient than me. Thank you though and I hope you like the rest._

_ninja awesome monkey (I just love to write that name): You really should try, make sure you're somewhere really quiet so that you can hear them as well. I sort of skipped the traveling, sorry, there will be more chances though._

_Mysteriousblade: Thank you, that is so sweet of you! And you are welcome, I love writing it so it's nice that others like it as well._


	22. Chapter 22

_Hi All, I am so sorry for my disappearance and a huge thank you to all of you, still reading and even sending me messages asking me what happened._

_Also a huge thank you, as always, to my Beta Lorrain, she is really the one you should thank since she keeps reminding me that I have a story to write._

_Truth is. I hit a wall and I'm still not happy with this chapter, but I guess it might be better than no chapter at all. There will probably not be as many updates as before and not more that once I week but I will do my very best to finish this story at least within the next couple of months. The really ridiculous part is, it's not that much left of what I had originally planed to write._

_Thank you all, for reviews and for still reading and still adding it to your favorites and alerts. It means a lot to me. Again; I'm really sorry I kept you waiting._

_As always: I do not own Skyrim. At all._

* * *

><p>22<p>

The next morning Vilkas sat down between Aela and Farkas. He gave Aela a stern look and said in a low voice. "You are teaching my girl naughty tricks."

Aela gave him an innocent look. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Really?" He felt very amused.

"No, I don't understand what you are referring to."

"Oh, you know, 'wear a dress that clings to the hips to drive Vilkas mad' and then there was 'tell him you will make it up to him in a sexy voice to make him do things he would prefer not to' and my latest favorite 'tell him bad news after sex'."

Farkas laughed out loud. "The combination of Aela and the very-quick-to-learn Rabbit is probably not a good one."

"No." It wasn't, he had no idea how Keilah had managed to outmaneuver him so smoothly yesterday. He knew that she was stubborn enough not to tell him anything she didn't want to, but when she had fallen asleep he did feel slightly fooled.

"I take it you had bad news after sex yesterday?" Farkas was still chuckling.

"She's going away for a while."

"Is she going back to school already?" Aela looked confused.

"No, I think it was something for the school, she wasn't very clear. It was just for a couple of days." He didn't like to lie to them, but in this case it was probably for the best. It would make it easier for Keilah as well, as long as he remembered to tell her what he had said.

Aela got up and just as she was behind him she leaned over and whispered in his ear. "I _am_ teaching her some tricks that I'm sure you are enjoying _during_ sex, to make it up to you."

He looked up at her and blushed but then he started to laugh. Aela had always been able to make him blush and he could just imagine how much Keilah must have been blushing when Aela was teaching her some 'tricks'.

When he saw Keilah coming up the stairs a bit later he walked over to her.

"Did you meet Aela downstairs?"

"No, was she looking for me?"

"No, but I told her and Farkas that you were going away and that it had something to do with school." He explained quickly in a low voice.

"Oh, cleaver, maybe I can say that to Ria as well."

"So Kodlak was ok with you bringing her?" He was relieved, since she wouldn't tell him where she was going he was pretty sure it was some place where she shouldn't go alone.

"Yes, but I think I need to mention your lie to him, in case someone else asks about it."

She walked downstairs again and he turned around and went back to the table.

* * *

><p>Later that day Keilah left with Ria. Ria seemed very eager to get away and Aela seemed happy for her. Ria had been out on assignments before but he assumed that this was different for her. When they could no longer see them, Aela turned to him.<p>

"So, how are you two doing?"

"Good." That didn't really cover it, but he was sure Aela got all the information she wanted from Keilah and he wasn't sure he liked it.

"I heard you had some problems with Njada yesterday."

"Did you talk with Ria?"

"No, Athis did, actually and then he told me. What happened?"

"Njada implied that we had sex after that mess with the marriage proposals." He might as well tell her, he was going to need her help with that.

"But you are ok, you talked about it?"

"We are fine, Aela. There's no need to worry about it."

"How are you going to deal with her? Njada, I mean."

"I honestly haven't decided yet. I'm not sure how to do it without making it worse for Keilah." He had been thinking about that during the night. It was very tempting just to beat her up but no matter what, Njada was a fellow Companion and punching her wouldn't help in any way. Except making him feel better.

"The situation is delicate. We'll figure something out."

He was very grateful for the 'we', he would need Aela for this. Aela was the only one that Njada had any respect for.

He went down to Farkas' room to talk to him. They hadn't had time to talk to each other properly since he came back with Keilah. Farkas was sitting at the bar with Athis. When he entered the room Athis got up.

"I'll leave the two of you alone."

"No, Athis, please stay."

"I need to get ready, I'm going out with Torvar , if I can wake him up." When he had left Farkas turned towards him.

"Is everything alright between you and Keilah?" Vilkas could feel himself smiling, he was never able to hide things from Farkas. "I guess that was answer enough." Farkas laughed.

* * *

><p>Kodlak had been able to find out where the Glenmoril witches had their coven. It was close to Falkreath so Keilah didn't expect her and Ria to be away for long.<p>

"Thank you for bringing me." Ria said.

"Thank you for coming, I'm sorry I can't be clearer about why we are doing this." She had pretty much told her they needed to do something for school and that she couldn't give her much information. She had admitted that it involved Witches, but that only seemed to make Ria more eager.

"It's ok. I understand. I've heard some scary things about witches though."

"Me too, I'm glad I don't have to do this alone."

Keilah had been right in the assumption that Ria wouldn't ask any questions. She had explained that she couldn't say much, Ria shrugged and that was pretty much it.

The conversation was a bit forced in the beginning but soon enough they were chatting away. Ria told her that she came from a fairly regular family and she had joined the Companions because she didn't want to end up like her mother.

"I have loved to fight my entire life, my dad said I was a born warrior. My mom on the other hand wanted me married off and told me to forget all this nonsense. She was very angry with me when I joined."

"Do they live nearby?"

"They live in Riverwood, I visit them quite often. Mom is mostly nagging but it is still nice to see them."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes, one of each, both married with farms and kids." Keilah did have a hard time to see Ria married on a farm with chubby children tugging on her skirts.

"It doesn't sound too bad."

"No, I guess not, but I don't think I'd make a very good wife, or farmer for that matter."

"No, I wouldn't even know where to begin, with any of the two."

"You and Vilkas seems to be doing ok."

"I think so, mostly because he's very patient."

The statement made Ria laugh. "I'm sure that's not the only reason, you're very easy to be around."

"That's not always the case." She was easy to be around, as long as the 'around' wasn't to close. She was getting a lot better with Vilkas, but she admitted to herself that she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do most of the time.

"Well, you do argue loudly but that's doesn't have to be a bad thing, you could be like my parents, that would be bad."

"How so? Do they argue more often?"

"No, they don't argue at all, frankly, I don't think they even talk to each other when no-one is around. That's bad. As long as there's some spark there's still hope, you know."

"Ok, that does sound bad." That would be worse, maybe being afraid of being close to someone wasn't so bad.

-oOo-

When Farkas came in Vilkas was in his room reading.

"Are you up for some training? I just feel the need to swing my sword." Farkas had his twitchy 'I can't sit still'-look.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, just, need to do something."

"You could read." The comment made Farkas look at him with raised eyebrows. "Yes, ok, that was foolish of me."

"Very." Vilkas knew that Farkas sometimes liked to read, it just didn't happen very often.

"I'll be ready in a second. I need your help later, we're moving Keilah's locker in here, I don't want to toss it around too much. I'm not sure what she has in there, but if we carry it together it should be ok."

Farkas looked at him, "Are you sure about that, I mean, did you ask her? I don't want to upset her."

"What? I asked her, well, I asked her for it as a favor, she agreed."

"Oh." Farkas smiled. "She's coming around then?"

"I think so." He remembered the look on her face the night before, his heart started to flutter just by thinking of it. She had said it, and she meant it, it felt absolutely amazing.

"You two are hopeless, I bet you'll be fighting again tomorrow."

"Probably, but by then her locker will be in my room and I'll make sure to sit on it until we're friendly again."

Farkas just rolled with his eyes.

* * *

><p>They were at the cave. Keilah went through her backpack and handed Ria some potions,<p>

"Make sure to use them if you're wounded. I'm going to have to use my hands for other spells than restoration."

"Ok." Ria didn't look worried at all, that could be both a good or a bad thing, Keilah concluded, it would probably be good if she was a bit worried. That would make her more careful.

"And stay back as much as possible, try to take cover. I will try to draw their attention as much as possible but you should fire arrows at them."

"Are you sure about this plan?"

"I can endure much more magic than you can. Whatever you do, stay behind me, if things get bad I will have to shout, you do not want to be in the way if I do that."

"Ok."

"We will only take one head. We go in there, kill the first witch we see and then we get out. Don't even loot, just make sure we get out of there."

"Ok." That seemed to be the only word Ria was going to use. 'At least she seems focused' Keilah thought.

Keilah thought that she had covered all the basics. She had never fought a witch before but knew that they were extremely powerful. She picked up a poison that drained magicka, she had two bottles of it and gave one to Ria.

"Dip the arrows in this, it's poison."

Ria did as she'd asked. Keilah used the other bottle on her sword. She doubted that she would get close enough to use it, but it was better to be safe than sorry. When they were done, they looked at each other, nodded and walked inside the cave.

* * *

><p>"Seriously, what does she have in this?" Farkas was panting.<p>

"Rocks, by the weight of it." Vilkas understood exactly what he meant. It was ridiculously heavy, he was starting to suspect that she had only agreed to let him move the locker because she didn't think he would be able to.

"Or iron ores."

"Ok, we're going to have to put it down."

They put down the locker on the floor, both of them leaning on it, trying to catch their breaths.

"This is ridiculous, if I had known it was this heavy I would've suggested that we do it before training." Farkas said.

"Come on, we're halfway there."

"You better be darn sure that she is ok with this, because I am not carrying this thing back."

"Neither am I, if she changes her mind she would have to carry it herself."

Farkas laugh so hard that he almost dropped the locker on his end. That's when they heard screaming from the floor above. They looked at each other, dropped the locker and ran upstairs.

* * *

><p>Keilah was hurt. It wasn't too bad, she had managed to heal herself but her left arm was still numb from one of the blasts which the witch hit her with. She had the witch's head in a bag tied to her belt, she could feel it bouncing against her thigh when she walked. The feeling made her sick.<p>

As they walked into Whiterun she noticed that the streets were unusually empty. When they turned up to Jorrvaskr she saw most of the town standing below the stairs leading to the house. The people there turned and looked at her as she passed them she saw dead people lying in the stairs.

"They're Silver Hands!"

"What?" Ria said. She almost forgot that the Companions outside the circle didn't really know anything about Silver Hands and most definitely not why they were chasing them.

Keilah ran up the stairs, passing several dead bodies, none of them Vilkas. Guards tried to stop her when she approached the door.

"I live her! Please! Let me pass!" The only thing she could think about was Vilkas. She prayed to every God she could think about that he was safe. He had to be! When she ran through the doors she saw him. She took a deep breath and repeated to herself, 'he is alive'.

He was standing in between Njada and Aela who were on their knees on the floor. Farkas was on a chair nearby and on the floor was Kodlak. She took a step closer. Why was Kodlak lying on the floor?

"Where were you?" She looked up at Vilkas, why would he ask that? He knew she couldn't tell him. And why was Kodlak on the floor? She was completely confused about the entire situation. Nothing seemed to add up.

Somewhere deep inside Keilah knew exactly why Kodlak was on the floor, covered in blood, with the other Companions sitting around the room with utter despair and sorrow written on their faces. But she couldn't admit it, even to herself.

"Where were you?" Vilkas was walking towards her. "We needed you, all your bloody powers and you were nowhere to be found when we needed you." He kept walking towards her and she started to back up.

"W-w-what?"

"The Silver Hands attacked and you weren't here, Kodlak needed you."

Aela got up from the floor and got walked up next to Vilkas and took his arm. "Don't do this, Vilkas, you are upset, don't take it out on her."

Vilkas turned and looked at Aela, "Could you stay out of our business for just two bloody seconds?"

"I understand that you are angry, but it's not her fault." Aela didn't back off, he hadn't expected her to, but he was pissed off. He turned towards Keilah again and noticed her looking at Kodlak, with big eyes as if she didn't understand what had happened. Her entire expression made his heart break.

"What happened?" She asked.

Aela answered. "They attacked, Kodlak was alone up here and they killed him before we even got to him."

Vilkas could see tears forming in Keilah's eyes and he walked up to her. He looked at her to make sure she wasn't angry with him but she just walked up to him and slipped into his arms.

"I'm sorry, I know it's not your fault." She hugged him closer and then she let go, she walked up to Kodlak's dead body on the floor and knelt down, carefully stroking the bloody hair out of his face. He could hear her murmuring something but couldn't make out the words.

He put his arm around Aela who was standing next to him. He knew why the Silver Hands had attacked but at the moment he didn't have the energy to be angry with her. He knew Aela well enough to know that she would judge herself harder than he ever could. They would need her now this wasn't the time or the place for that discussion.

He watched Keilah hugging Farkas and finally Erlond walked up to them all.

"He shouldn't be lying here like this, we need to take care of his body." Vignar came with linen to use as a shroud, then he, Erlond, Vignar and Farkas carried him away.

When he came inside again Keilah was sitting on a chair and he took her in his arm again. He noticed that her left arm was just hanging limp by her side.

"Are you ok?"

She looked at him with angry eyes. "Of course not!"

"No, I know. I meant your arm, what's wrong with it?"

"It's just numb, it will pass. I need to talk to you, Farkas and Aela. It's important."

"Go down to Farkas' room, we'll meet you there."

Keilah walked down and noticed her locker in the middle of the hallway. She tried to push it to the side of the wall but couldn't move it an inch. She didn't want to leave the bag with the head in the locker while it was in the middle of the hallway so she walked into Vilkas room and left it in there instead.

She tried to take of her armor but her arm was still numb and she had problems with the belts and buckles. She got more and more frustrated, trying to rip them up and finally the grief for Kodlak caught up with her and she sat down on the bed and started to cry.

She heard Vilkas when he came into the room.

"Come here." he said and then he took her in his arms and kissed her cheeks. "You should probably get out of that armor."

The comment made her cry even more and he took his face in her hands, looking at her.

"I tried, b-b-but t-t-the arm is still n-n-numb." she could hardly speak for all the crying.

"I'll help you." She managed to calm down while he was taking her armor off.

"I should be the one comforting you, he was like a father to you, I'm sorry."

She turned around and put her arms around his waist. He hugged her close.

"Wait here, we'll have the meeting tomorrow, we both need rest."

He walked out and she sat down on the bed again. When he came into the room again she could see him sniffing the air.

"What is that smell? It's horrible."

"I have a witch-head in a bag, I didn't want to leave it in the locker in the hallway." She should have realized that he would be able to scent it, she could smell it and his sense of smell was a lot better than hers.

He looked at her with big eyes. "I'm not even going to ask why you have a witch's head in a bag, just give me the bag and I'll put it somewhere safe."

She gave it to him and he left the room again. When he came back he got down on the bed and pulled her closer to him.


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Elder Scrolls or any of the characters from the game._

_**I'm currently in the process of re-writing and fixing this entire story**. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it. There never was supposed to be all that many more chapters, so it should be quite possible. _

_I'm so grateful for the reviews that's been dropping in and I want you to know that's why I finally decided to make a real attempt to finish this. Not giving you promises, but I WILL do my very best. Thank you again and thank you to Lorraine. _

_**I'll notify in the beginning of each chapter as I re-place them. Until the rest, this is a new chapter, I'll probably fix it too, but it gives you at least something for your amazing support. Thank you!**_

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><p><strong>23<strong>

They were just lying there for quite some time, tears streaming down Keilah's cheeks and suddenly she felt moisture in her hair. She turned around to see that Vilkas was crying as well. She was stunned, the big warrior had tears streaming down his face.

She did the only thing she could think of - she put her arms around his neck and held his head against her chest. She could feel his arms around her waist hugging her closer. They were lying like that for a long time, when he finally pulled away her tunic was soaked with their tears .

He looked up at her and she leaned down to kiss his forehead, then put a trail of soft kisses down his cheeks to his chin. He put his hand behind her her head and steered her mouth to his. Kissing her carefully. She could taste the salty tears on his lips and knew that he could taste hers the same thing He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers, closing his eyes.

"Tell me about him, Vilkas. What he was like when you were children?"

She scooted down and laid her head on his arm. He held her close and looked down on her. She noticed tiny smile on his lips.

"He was extremely patient. When we came here, both me and Farkas were just scared kids. We couldn't remember a life before we were with the cult. They..." He stopped speaking and hugged her closer.

Vilkas didn't have many memories from before he came to the Companions, the ones he had was disturbing.

"The necromancers took special interest in us since we are twins, I never understood why. Jergen found us just before we turned five years old and he quite soon left to go to war."

"You once said you thought he was a close friend of your family."

"I believe so. Kodlak told me that he was looking for us for the better part of a year before he found us. He knew things about us, like which one of us that was the oldest, our birthday and had a locket that he said belonged to our mother."

"Where is this locket?"

"Farkas has it." He had given it to him, since the notion of a biological family seemed more important to Farkas than it did to him.

"Do you know much about your mother?"

"No, as far as I know there was nothing special about her. The necromancers killed her when they kidnapped us." He had no memories of his mother, so that wasn't something that was hard to tell.

"Do you know why they did it. Was it just because you were twins?"

"And the eyes. Light eyes and twins, but they needed us to be older so they kept us."

"The eyes?" Keilah sounded confused. He wished he could offer a better explanation, but he couldn't. Not just for her, he would've liked to know as well.

"They kept looking at our eyes." He remembered that - the old man in the black robe who held up a torch in front of their faces and looked at their eyes. He seemed fascinated by them. Farkas had tried to attack him and the man had just laughed at them. Said they were feisty little kids.

"They are quite stunning." She said with a smile, trailing her fingers along his eyebrow and down his cheek.

"Thank you." He kissed her.

"What happened after Jergen left?"

"Kodlak fathered us." He had been angry at Jergen for leaving them and had talked Farkas into running away. "We tried to run away but as we were passing Honningbrew Meadery, we saw Kodlak sitting on the wall, waiting for us."

They hadn't seen him until they were just next to him, he jumped down from the wall and smiled at them.

"What did he say?"

"He asked us if we wanted something to eat before we left." He laughed at the memory. "Farkas completely bailed on me and said it would be great because he was really hungry. We walked back with him to Jorrvaskr and that was it."

"You never wanted to leave again?"

"No, he talked to us into staying while we ate." He had been so impressed with Kodlak who talked to him as if he were an adult. Vilkas used to hate that people talked to him as if he didn't understand what they were saying. It took him years to realize that it was simply due to the fact that he understood more than he should at his age. Kodlak had known from the very beginning. "He was kind, so we agreed to stay."

"I think that's why you are so patient with me, in a lot of ways you are like him."

"He did loose his patience with us once. He actually spanked me." It hadn't hurt much, it was more the humiliating of being spanked than the actual pain. He'd also been upset because Kodlak had been so very disappointed with him.

Keilah laughed, "He spanked you?!"

"Yes, it upset Farkas so much he cried until he threw up." That made her laugh even more and Vilkas started to laugh as well.

"He threw up?"

"Yes, he could never stand when I got into trouble or got hurt, he preferred getting hurt himself. Kodlak knew that, of course, so he spanked me because he knew it would have the biggest effect on both of us."

"What did you do? It must have been something very bad to push Kodlak into physically punishing you."

"Farkas was in love with Ysolda. I believe you know who she is?"

"Yes. He was in love with her?"

"Yes, we were nine or ten, he tried to kiss her but she hit him with a shovel." That made Keilah laugh once more.

"I assume he wanted revenge?"

"Yes, and I of course was going to help him, the plan was mine." They always did everything together and if someone hurt one of them, both of them retaliated. Pretty soon everyone knew that it was always the two of them you were fighting, never just one.

"What did you do?"

"We cut of a huge chunk of her hair." It had been years, but he was still ashamed of it.

"Vilkas! That's horrible!" She rose up and hit him on the chest. "Poor girl."

"Yes, Kodlak seemed to think so as well. Hence the spanking."

"You were bad already as boys."

"That was the only time he spanked us or even lost his temper with us though. He said he hadn't thought us how to fight so we could use it on innocent girls."

"I bet he spent a lot of time apologizing around town for the two of you."

"Yes, as we got older we had to do it ourselves though."

"What was it like, growing up here?" She once again settled down next to him. "You must have been very different from other children, I mean."

"I don't think so, but then, I wouldn't know. This is the only life I have ever really known."

"Do you like it?"

"The lack of privacy is driving me crazy sometimes. But I would probably feel lonely if I wasn't in a house full of people. Thank you."

"For what?"

"I know what you are doing." He looked down at her and saw her smiling. "You're making me remember the good things about him."

"I should have known you'd see through that." She looked embarrassed, so he kissed her.

"Kodlak once told me that from the first moment he saw me and Farkas he knew that I was the brain and Farkas the muscles. We were like wild animals and Farkas pretty much attacked anyone who came close. I was just looking at everyone, evaluating them. He told me I was smarter than what was good for me."

"Farkas told me something similar once. That you never just _do_ things because you can predict the consequences of your every decision."

"Hmm, I guess that sums it up. I still appreciate it, even if I know what you are doing, it still works." Vilkas knew Farkas was right. He did have a tendency to over think things.

"Don't you think you should be with Farkas instead of me now?"

When he had gone over to Farkas room to inform him they wanted to gather the Circle the next day he had offered to stay with him, but Farkas declined saying he wanted to be alone and that Rabbit probably needed him. He did love how the two of them always though of the other, as if they were scared to keep him away from the other person.

"He said he thought I should be with you. He also scolded me for lashing out on you when you came back. I am really sorry about that." Farkas had said that he should apologies 'hundreds of bloody times for that'.

"It's ok. I understand. It is hard to think straight in a situation like that. Besides, I should have been here."

"Don't you dare blame yourself! Kodlak was alone upstairs, none of us were there to defend him. When we ran up we took care of the attackers easily, but it was too late."

"I still feel bad about it, but thank you for trying."

Keilah looked at him. It wasn't hard to imagine him as a boy, already more cleaver than most men. For a boy like that it must have been wonderful to grow up with a man like Kodlak, who would know the value of his intelligence. Who would love to teach him. She wondered what kind of man he would have been without him.

"I love you, Vilkas." It felt very strange to say. The last time it just came to her, she had almost felt compelled to say it.

"I love you too. Very much." The way it felt when he said it made her understand why people said it to begin with.

"What do you think will happen now?"

"We will probably go after them. There aren't that many Silver Hands left and we have maps of their forts." He looked uncomfortable when he said it.

"Would you prefer to not go after them?"

"No. We need to put an end to this. It's been going on for too long."

"I'm sending words to the College. I'll stay here for as long as you need me. Brelyna and Onmund can explain to the teachers, they'll understand."

"You should probably be careful with what you say. I always need you here." The comment made her smile.

"You always _want_ me here. There's a difference."

"True. I'm glad you are staying, though. And at the moment, I do need you here."

Then she remembered something. "Why is my locker in the hallway?"

"Me and Farkas was moving it when..."

"I'm sorry."

"We'll bring it in here tomorrow."

"Don't worry about it. I don't really need the locker."

"Don't you even try! That bloody locker is being moved in here. You're staying in here from now on."

"That's not what I meant. If you have somewhere I can put my things I can just move them here instead."

"Ok, I'll fix it for you. It was extremely heavy, what do you have in there?"

"Quite a few Luna Moths and Torchbugs." The comment made her think of the time when she had them catching bugs she didn't need. It felt strange that two of the men there were dead. Killed by the same group. She very much felt the need to make sure that they all died. She saw that Vilkas was thinking about the same thing. "It's odd, that both of them are gone."

"Yes."

"Did Kodlak ever talk to you about me?"

"Yes, many times. Is there something special you are thinking about?"

"The first time I met him, when you where there as well... you were very rude by the way!"

"I was, I couldn't understand why someone so tiny would want to join the Companions. You looked like a small child."

"I still look the same. Was that the only reason you didn't want me to join?"

"I don't know to be honest. I was upset at the time. We were talking about a cure, about us not being able to go to Sovengard when we cross over." Vilkas went silent.

"I think we might be able to solve that for Kodlak." She felt the need to say it, because she knew that was what he was thinking about. That Kodlak had died before he had the cure.

"Really?" He looked very skeptical. "How?"

"Can we talk about it tomorrow? When Aela and Farkas is with us. I can tell you that it includes the witch-head in the bag." That made him look extremely skeptical. She kissed him, "Please Vilkas, I promise to explain everything tomorrow.

"Ok. Where was I?"

"You were telling me why you didn't want me to join the Companions."

"You were so small, I think I felt very protective of you, and..." He lost track and looked at the ceiling with a big smile on his lips.

"And, what?"

"You were beautiful. And when I protested you talked back. You were... I don't know. Annoying and cute and just wouldn't back down.."

"You liked that?"

"Yes, no person your size or even bigger than you has ever dared to talked back at me the way you did. And when we walked outside you even teased me. You weren't the least bit scared. I was amazed, and extremely annoyed."

"I was terrified!"

"What?"

"You're huge, and smart. Usually my biggest advantage when I fight is that I'm smarter and faster."

"You were faster. You really hit be bad on the back of my leg, you managed to hit me right in a crack in the armor."

"I know."

"You know?"

"Of course, I was walking behind you on our way out to see were the soft spots were on your armor."

He looked at her with big eyes. "Are you kidding me? You hit me in all the bad places on purpose, so it would hurt as much as possible?"

"Yes. I didn't dare to tell you. I thought it was better if you thought it was by accident."

"And you are calling me a bad person."

"You deserved it, considering how rude you were to me."

He pushed her down on her back and kissed her. "You naughty girl!"

"Did you really think I was beautiful?"

"I did. Your eyes were the most fascinating I had ever seen, they still are. And you annoyed me in a way no one ever had. Every time I talked to you I couldn't decide if I wanted to kiss you or spank you or both."

"Spank me?"

"I still do sometimes. And I'm still as attracted to you as I was then."

"I really thought you hated me but I couldn't stop looking at you," she admitted and could feel a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.

"I never notcied you looking at me."

"I'm very sneaky. But that was actually not why I brought this up. When I came the first time, Kodlak looked at me like he had seen me before. Did he ever mention anything about that to you?"

"No. Like he recognized you?" Vilkas was still hovering above her, resting on his elbows.

"Yes."

"And you are sure you had never met him before then?"

"I hadn't even been in Skyrim before."

"He never mentioned anything like that. He liked you, a lot, and put a lot of hope in you."

"But he never said why?"

"No, he was very happy for me though," Vilkas said with a smile and leaned down to nudge her nose with his.

"He said that?"

"Yes, he said I should be nice to you. Everyone says that, I think it's your size again."

"It is a blessing and a curse." She couldn't stop a yawn from bursting out.

"I'm sorry, I'm keeping you awake," he said and laid down next to her again. She settled on his arm and he kissed the top of her head.

"It's ok, I want to hear more."

"You need to sleep, love. I'll be here when you wake up."

"I wish I could say that to you, just once."

"You're here when I wake up."

Vilkas smiled when Keilah turned around to look at him. She put her hand on his cheek. "Do you still watch me when I sleep?"

"Yes. I do other things to you as well," he admitted with a smile.

"What?!"

"I kiss you. Wuite often."

"I think I like that, you can keep doing that."

"As if you could stop me." He gave her a kiss and then drew her closer. "Thank you for this. You made this night a lot easier for me."


End file.
